The Port of Ridgefield said Friday it has sold a 5.6-acre property to Portland-based Alliance Industrial Group, which plans to build an 80,000-square-foot facility and employ up to 160 employees at the site, including existing workers and new hires.
The combination of new hires and existing employees will come from Alliance Industrial Group and its subsidiaries: Alpha Iron and Vancouver Steel Painters.
Alliance and its subsidiaries manufacture steel products for clients such as Hoffman Construction, Skanska and Gunderson Marine. Alliance is purchasing the parcel — located on South Sixth Way in the southwest quadrant of the Interstate 5 exit 14 interchange — under a contract with the port valued at $904,000. Under the terms, Alliance will pay the port $90,400 at the closing of the land sale. The company will owe the port the rest — $813,600 — to be paid in monthly installments over 25 years.
The new, 80,000-square-foot facility, planned to be operational by July 2013, will store, process, assemble and coat steel products for industrial plants, sports arenas, transportation hubs and energy facilities in the western United States.
Brent Grening, the port’s chief executive officer, said it’s “nice to see a local company growing and doing well. That’s what it’s all about from our perspective.”
Grening said some of Alliance’s existing workers at other sites will be relocated to the new facility. He said he didn’t know how many of the 160 jobs would be filled by existing workers or new hires. He said he didn’t know how much Alliance planned to spend on constructing the new building.
Jim Buchan, president of Alliance Industrial Group, could not be reached for comment late Friday afternoon. In a news release issued by the port, Buchan said the company decided to build at the port “as a result of availability of a trained workforce, a city that is business friendly and a port that is committed to bring jobs to their community.”
Buchan also said: “Our new facility will be very close to the new freeway interchange, and the property is almost entirely shovel-ready, allowing us to build sooner and get the new plant up and running.”
Development of the 5.6-acre parcel will fully build out the port’s industrial park. The port also has plans to develop 25 acres of industrial land south of the existing industrial park. The port also is targeting the 30-acre Discovery Ridge office park for development. And it wants to redevelop Ridgefield’s waterfront into the 40-acre, mixed-use Millers’ Landing.
Aaron Corvin: http://twitter.com/col_econ; http://on.fb.me/AaronCorvin; 360-735-4518; aaron.corvin@columbian.com
