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Monday, March 18, 2024
March 18, 2024

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Fisher zeroes in on Camas campus

Investment company might begin work on $30M building soon

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Fisher Investments is likely to start construction on its $30 million Camas campus within 30 days, the company and city officials said Wednesday.

But Fisher still hasn’t committed to relocating its headquarters from San Mateo, Calif., to the 150-acre property near Southeast 192nd Avenue.

? Previously: In 2008, Fisher Investments purchased a 150-acre Camas site and submitted building plans for an office complex.

? What’s new: This week, Fisher Investments gave Camas officials notice it plans to file for building permits and could break ground on the complex within 30 days.

? Previously: In 2008, Fisher Investments purchased a 150-acre Camas site and submitted building plans for an office complex.

? What's new: This week, Fisher Investments gave Camas officials notice it plans to file for building permits and could break ground on the complex within 30 days.

? What's next: The company expects to select a general contractor from five bidders and begin work on the first phase of development, a four-story office building to house up to 450 employees.

? What’s next: The company expects to select a general contractor from five bidders and begin work on the first phase of development, a four-story office building to house up to 450 employees.

“We are going to continue growing the Clark County work force,” said Ken Fisher, founder and chief executive officer. “That headquarters question is not going to be decided in 2010.”

Fisher opened an east Vancouver satellite office in early 2007. One year earlier, the company had called Clark County one of three sites it would consider for corporate relocation. Since then, the company’s 50-person staff in Vancouver has grown to 270 employees.

With the purchase of the Camas property in 2008, the city entered the headquarters competition with sites in Florida and Texas.

Camas will be the first of the three “satellite sites” to break ground, followed by Texas and then Florida, according to the company.

Fisher notified the city Wednesday that the firm plans to file for building permits, marking another step in the company’s effort to move forward with the project.

That set in motion an agreement, approved by the Camas City Council in March, that requires the city to approve the building plans within six weeks and complete a $2.2 million regional expansion of water and sewer lines for the site within a year.

“Fisher is targeted to move in (next) May,” said Camas Mayor Paul Dennis.

If all goes well, the company will start phase one of the project, contingent on the bids it receives from contractors, Fisher said. The 150,000-square-foot building was estimated to cost about $30 million pre-recession, but Fisher anticipates much more competitive pricing in today’s commercial market.

He expects to have a signed contract soon, having already received bids from 10 contractors and narrowed the pool down to five.

The original site plan submitted to the city in 2008 calls for two buildings and parking for up to 2,000 vehicles, enough to accommodate up to 1,200 workers with annual salaries ranging from $50,000 to $250,000.

The new plans aren’t far from the earlier estimate, Dennis said.

At full capacity, the first building would hold up to 450 employees — well beyond the current work force at Fisher’s Vancouver satellite office. Plans for the second building haven’t yet been finalized.

And the undeveloped site, a mix of wooded wetlands and buildable land, can handle eight times the square footage planned for the current build out, Fisher said.

All of that free space provides a tempting escape from the constraints of San Mateo’s business climate, Fisher said Wednesday. He cites the state’s 9.3 percent personal income tax for workers in the company’s salary range and development standards that Fisher says force his employees to take public transportation to work.

“The city of San Mateo and County of San Mateo is employee hostile,” Fisher said. “They hate my employees. They hate everybody’s employees.”

Fisher Investments manages about $40 billion in stocks and bonds for private clients with accounts of $500,000 and more. The company also manages pension plans for many cities and states and oversees financial planning for major corporations such as Boeing Co. and Volvo.

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