Killians look long-term, focus on local

What: Commercial developer.

Founded: 1968.

Leadership: George Killian, CEO; Lance Killian, president.

Headquarters: 500 E. Broadway, Suite 110, Vancouver.

Employees: About 30.

Web: killianpacific.com

Clark County was still largely a rural community, dotted with farms and forests, when the founder of Killian Pacific decided to get into the development business more than 40 years ago. Interstate 205 had not yet been built, and the county’s population was just one-third of what it is today.

“And you could actually borrow money at a bank without being wealthy,” George Killian said, as he reflects on the company he’s spent a lifetime building, a business that has helped to bring about many of the changes that have reshaped Clark County into the bustling urban and suburban network of neighborhoods, roads and businesses that define the community today.

At age 68, Killian is still chief executive of Killian Pacific, engaged in the big picture and strategy as his son, 44-year-old Lance, heads daily operations. The two say they see eye to eye on the business and that they both believe in thinking long term, staying local and choosing to stay relatively small so they can remain close to their roots. George said he has no plans to retire, and Lance said he values working with his dad.

But the world of development is changing. And so is the company that built Who Song and Larry’s restaurant on the Columbia River in the early 1980s, that developed the large Columbia State Bank building at the gateway to lower downtown in the early 2000, and that manages hundreds of millions of dollars of real estate today.

“We don’t seek out media attention,” said Lance, who reluctantly agreed to an interview with The Columbian. “We’re not in it for the attention.”

But with numerous high-profile projects in the works in Clark County and central Portland, at a moment when construction is booming across the metro area, it’s hard not to focus on the outsized impact of this relatively small operation.

Up-and-coming projects

Killian Pacific is several months into building the first new downtown Vancouver office structure to break ground in several years, The Hudson at 101 Main St., which is named for the trading company that helped establish Vancouver in the 1800s. Pacific Continental Bank plans to open a branch there, and Killian will move its headquarters to the site, across the street from its current location. Lance Killian said he’s not yet ready to announce all the building’s tenants, but he expects to draw food- and beverage-related businesses to the ground floor.

Lee Rafferty, executive director of Vancouver’s Downtown Association, said the project reflects Killian Pacific’s goals: “building a quality, authentic downtown that brings together a community full of interests and talents.”

“They honor the past but press toward the future with innovative ideas and the staff to sensitively deliver projects that really fit our evolving downtown,” Rafferty said.

Killian Pacific, which bought shopping center Garrison Square from a distressed real estate investor several years ago, has big plans there as well: The company recently terminated Ace Hardware’s lease, then announced a remodeling project that will bring more-upscale Parkrose Hardware to the site. This fall, Killian will start improvements that will bring Northwest-style details to the shopping center, which it plans to rename The Mill in deference to the region’s logging history.

That project shows that not every effort by the Killians wins universal applause; the Ace store’s longtime owner, Bruce Ault, complained of being forced out to make way for a competitor.

Both in-the-works Clark County developments, as well as three projects in Portland — a recently completed overhaul of a former industrial building, and new mixed-use apartments-and-retail — aim to incorporate a Northwest aesthetic with modern sensibilities. Think large wooden beams that harken back to old-growth days, alongside new open floor plans and abundant bike parking.

New lifestyles, familiar values

“It’s a new lifestyle, all these businesses that are coming in. It’s generational,” George Killian said.

People want open work spaces, a focus on the Internet, a different kind of language to describe an old kind of work. In the past, developers talked about building for future generations. Today, Lance describes similar ideas using newer vocabulary: sustainability, purpose.

“We’ve always been interested in sustainability,” Lance said.

He notes that Killian Pacific has opted to limit itself largely to the Portland metro area — with rare exceptions farther north in Washington and farther south in Oregon — because staying local and invested in the community is part of an effort to build a company that values community over growth.

John White, vice president at the Berger/ABAM consulting firm in Vancouver, said he has witnessed those values firsthand over years working with the company.

“This is a throwback firm, where a handshake is more meaningful than the paperwork,” he said.

That’s not to say that Killian Pacific is small. The company has only 30 employees — up by 10 in the past few years — because it hires outside architects, construction firms and contractors to handle the projects that it runs.

But it owns hundreds of millions of dollars worth of real estate in the Portland metro area. The Killians do not release many financial details, but one of their Portland projects has been valued at more than $74 million. When Killian Pacific bought the Columbia Business Park in 2006, it paid $30 million.

The business does not make these large investments with a quick profit in mind, Lance said. Instead, it holds on to its properties and manages them for years to come. Construction of the Hudson building really began with agreements inked more than a decade ago. One mixed retail-and-apartments complex the company is building in Southeast Portland is on land the Killians have owned for decades.

That long-term focus means that there are a number of development opportunities the business is exploring on land it already owns in Clark County, and Lance said more announcements will be forthcoming as those projects gradually pencil out.

And the figures do have to add up, even if the company does have a commitment to staying local and sustainable for years to come.

“It’s market-driven. We go where we identify an opportunity to meet a need,” Lance said. “But we don’t want to be influenced by short-term noise in the market. We are building a sustainable business for the future.”