o Previously: Swiss electronics company Logitech bought Vancouver-based Labtec in 2001.
o What’s new: Logitech is moving its Vancouver offices to Camas in May.
o What’s next: The company signed a 5-year lease but plans to stay much longer.
Fore! Logitech International is expanding its presence in Clark County with a move from its longtime Vancouver location to a much larger space overlooking Camas Meadows Golf Club.
The Swiss company, with U.S. headquarters in Fremont, Calif., has operated its audio division in Vancouver since it acquired Labtec Inc. here in 2001.
It has since outgrown its space at Columbia Tech Center and will move in May to 40,000 square feet of vacant office space in Camas Meadows Corporate Center at 4700 N.W. Camas Meadows Drive. The company will also construct a second, 4,000 square-foot building at the site to house its product testing labs and to leave room for future growth, said Mark Schneider, vice president and general manager of Logitech’s audio business unit in Vancouver.
“We’re signing a five-year lease but we’ll probably be there for quite a long time,” Schneider said. “It’s a beautiful space right now, with room for expansion over the next five to 10 years, and the location is fantastic.”
Logitech, which specializes in electronic accessories for PC computers, is among the largest publicly traded consumer electronics companies with offices in Vancouver. The company reported net sales of $617 million and $57 million in profit for the quarter ending Dec. 31, 2009.
Start of a trend?
Logitech’s “high-profile” presence in the five-year-old commercial development “will cause other firms to take a closer look at what the advantages are of moving there,” said Deborah Ewing, a commercial real estate broker with Eric Fuller & Associates in Vancouver.
“It’s great news,” Ewing said. “The mission is to create more jobs regardless of whether it’s officially in Camas or Vancouver.”
Though Logitech’s payroll hasn’t grown beyond 100 workers in the past few years, its offerings have changed dramatically. Once focused solely on digital music devices such as PC speakers and iPod docking stations, the company has now added headsets for digital voice access via Skype, streaming media devices and wireless home music systems to its product line.
“We’re actually seeing a significant return to growth for the audio business,” Schneider said. “We did have a good year for the first three quarters and expect to do better going forward.”
Home speaker systems, in particular, now account for about half of the audio division’s business — a significant consideration in the company’s decision to move, Schneider said.
To test its speakers, Logitech needs two anechoic chambers, with specific sound-reflecting qualities, to measure the frequency of the sound waves they emit. In the low-frequency bass range of sounds issued by a sub-woofer, for example, the distance between waves can be so large that the chambers must be custom-manufactured to measure 30 feet in length by 20 feet in width by 20 feet in height to accommodate the sound.
Logitech plans some limited hiring next quarter at its new facilities in Camas, where employees will enjoy at least one new perk: a chance to spend the lunch hour at the Camas Meadows’ driving range next door.
