1. business and industrial

BETTER
BUSINESS
RIVERPLACE
HYATT
FACEBOOK’S
FIFTH
Tribune
Business
MARCH 3, 2015
INSIDE
ENGEN’S
BRIGHT IDEA
BY JOSEPH GALLIVAN
2 BUSINESS TRIBUNE
Tuesday, March 3, 2015
BUSINESS TRIBUNE 3
Tuesday, March 3, 2015
TRIBUNE PHOTO: JAIME VALDEZ
COVER: George Osgood, left, and Robert F. Moody who are partners at EnGen Technologies, stand by a LED light that is designed to hang over a power line. ABOVE: Robert Moody, a partner at EnGen
Technologies, describes how their self-illuminated LED light works using just the electrical field around a power line.
THE LITTLE
E
THAT COULD
ENGEN … MAYBE
Portland-area startup
aims to light dark streets
with free electricity
ntrepreneurs, like engineers, are always
looking to make something out
of nothing. EnGen
makes a light that
hangs over a naked
power cable, and
doesn’t appear to
use any electricity.
This low-power LED only
takes 10 minutes to install and
runs off the corona, or field of
waste energy, than surrounds
every power line. Any lineman
can install it with a hot stick.
The idea is to bring street
lights to dark spaces, like bike
paths and intersections, where
installing street lights on poles
costs too much. The installer
just clicks it over
the wire, like hoisting a garment on to
the carousel at a
dry cleaning shop.
EnGen grew out
of a 60-year-old
family run business called
P&R Technologies.
BY JOSEPH
GALLIVAN
“P&R makes the big red
balls, or power line markers
for marking power lines worldwide,” says George Osgood,
Managing Partner in both EnGen and P&R. Based in an
light industrial park near
Washington Square Mall, P&R
has a solid business supplying
utilities with street lights and
line markers. It’s an old company trying to sell a new idea.
Their SpanGuard markers
are the red bobbles visible on
long electricity lines, like those
running across the Willamette
CONTINUED / Page 4
4 BUSINESS TRIBUNE
Tuesday, March 3, 2015
■ From page 3
and the Columbia Rivers. These
markers help pilots avoid crashing
into the lines.
They added lights to the red balls
because pilots asked them to. Their
electrical engineer designed a regulator that uses waste power to light a
red LED.
Where: 8700 SW Nimbus
Avenue # C
Beaverton, OR 97008
Phone: 503-430-7684
Web: engen-tech.com
Video of the self lighting
street lamp: youtube.com/
watch?v=qByN8E1Bkeo
Fun Fact: They have sold more
than 500,000 power line markers over 60 years, preventing
pilots from flying into power lines
which blend into the horizon.
Bright idea
The white noise you hear on an
AM radio as you drive under power
lines comes from interference with
the electromagnetic field put out by
the power lines. It’s not a lot, but it
can be harvested to run an LED array.
Because LEDs do not need much
power and are getting cheaper, a
light bulb went off in Osgood’s head.
He and Robert Moody, head of Administration and Sales, took the idea
and tried to apply it elsewhere. In
particular, they’re aiming at the badly lit roads and the sweet spot between municipalities and utilities.
Municipalities catch hell when someone gets mugged or run over in a
dark spot. Utilities exist to provide
light and electricity but sometimes
resist change.
Osgood recently approached Tualatin Valley Parks and Rec where
there are many parks and bike lanes
beneath high voltage power lines.
“I said to them, ‘Are you interested
in illuminating these areas so people
don’t stumble or get mugged — just
general safety stuff? And you don’t
have to trench one-ten through the
area,’” Osgood says, referring to the
110-Volt power supply that traditional cobra head street lights require.
Digging trenches and installing
the power supply for street lights is
expensive. Usually the municipality
buys the lights and the utility manages them. The utility would like to
keep labor costs down, and sending a
worker up in a bucket with a hot
stick is a lot cheaper than digging
trenches, erecting poles and shutting
down service for a day.
No shocks
In EnGen’s corner of the office the
demonstration doesn’t take long. A
hollow metal pole is set up which
houses an insulated cable running
110 volts. They lift the self-illuminated LED street light up, snap it shut
around the cable, and the lights
come on.
LEDs are better suited to the job
than gas and filament bulbs. Be-
Business
Tribune
LIGHTS AND BIG BIRDS
EnGen Technologies LLP
and P&R Technologies
cause of the wind, metal towers and
wires are constantly in motion,
which would soon destroy a bulb.
EnGen’s Moody says have no competition for their self-powered light,
which is under patent application.
“The concept of capturing energy
off the power line using a current
transformer has been around for 50
years or more,” says Moody. “The
ability to then regulate that power to
drive an LED light, that’s where the
secret sauce is.”
Just as much of the challenge with
designing electric cars and motorbikes is in the circuitry that controls
the electrical current, so for the selfilluminated street light, it’s about
dealing with the variable corona of
power coming off the line.
“If you’re clear out in the country
you’re getting very little power out
there, but if you’re next to a big manufacturing plant, it’s pulling a lot of
power,” says Osgood. “We had to
have a technology that would work
on any line, 50 amps or 2,000 amps
without it blowing up. Same thing for
voltage. We could emulate 200 amps
from the wall, or we can put it on a
million volt power line in China.”
He says the technology could just
as easily run a video camera or a
motion sensor.
EnGen is one of those office/industrial park stories that Oregon does
so well. A family business goes on
for half a century in a conservative
market, keeping up with the technology. Osgood learned from working
with his father, a California Institute
of Technology-educated engineer.
“My father joked that at the end of
the War (World War II), the day he
finished studying radio tubes the
transistor was invented.
So he sees the job as finding a
need and filling it — such as corners
that are hard to light.
“You find an engineer that can
PRESIDENT
VICE PRESIDENT
J. Mark Garber
Brian Monihan
EDITOR AND
ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER
ADVERTISING DIRECTOR
Vance W. Tong
Christine Moore
Robert Moody a
partner at
EnGen
Technologies,
shows the inside
of a SpanGuard
marker that
hangs on power
lines and helps
prevent pilots
from crashing
into them.
TRIBUNE PHOTO:
JAIME VALDEZ
help you with your ideas.”
They like the way the City of Beaverton was an early adopter of LED
street lights, and see the LED as a
huge market changer.
Utilities are risk averse and don’t
wish to endorse products, but in
Portland at NE 33rd and Killingsworth there are some of EnGen’s
self-powered street lights in beta
testing.
But for now, however, it’s mostly a
sales job.
P&R Technologies has eight full
time employees, including Lee Gassaway, the electrical engineer who
designed the controller. The next
generation light will be half the size,
and they are debating whether to redesign it to make it cool-looking, or
keep it clunky. It could look like a
spaceship, but clunky is cheap and
fast to make. Using sturdy, UV-protected plastic would cost more, but it
would be lighter, more aerodynamic
and a better story.
Winning over the linemen is essential. Linemen use a “hot line
clamp” that works with the hot stick.
EnGen used this part, rather than
design their own, to make installation as easy as possible.
EnGen currently has five angel investors in the five figure dollar
range. Money isn’t everything. “The
original goal was to raise a million
five ($1.5 million), and we got running after the first $100,000 and
CIRCULATION
MANAGER
Kim Stephens
CREATIVE
SERVICES MANAGER
Cheryl DuVal
haven’t looked back.”
“We weren’t sure if this is the latest greatest big thing, or an niche
market. We set it off so we could get
more investment, and get more people involved.”
“That’s why we started a separate
company. It’s gives us more flexibility. If a G.E. (General Electric) came
to us and we said, ‘We like it,’ we’d
work with them. If it were under
P&R Technology there might be
more restrictions.”
The company has looked into government grants from the Electric
Power Research Institute (EPRI) and
the Bonneville Environmental Foundation but nothing has come of it yet.
They’re had strongest interest from
small rural electrical associations
and co-ops.
“They can make things happen
because they move faster,” says
Moody, comparing 30 days to nine
months. He adds that mid-size utilities have installed the lights and like
the results, and a larger utility is beta testing it.
For cities it might be one step to
make a decision to try a new light.
For a utility it might be 10 steps.
“But the larger utilities have a hierarchy, and standards groups. With
the evolution of LEDs they’re overwhelmed with new products. They
went for years where they only had
one cobra head they installed, from
GE, Phillips or American Electric,
In addition to corona-powered
LED lights, P&R Technologies
makes other stuff as well.
The chilly back room in its
Beaverton warehouse is piled
high with those red warning lights
that sit atop radio masts on
Council Crest, painted woodpeckers cut from sheet metal to scare
off other woodpeckers who would
damage wooden poles (especially in the Midwest), reflective
bands for light poles, and orange
bird markers.
According to Osgood, bird
diverters are a steady business.
Big birds need to be discouraged
from nesting on poles.
“Birds stream (defecate) as
they take off and eagle poop can
be as hard to shift as plaster of
Paris.” He adds, “Wind turbines
kill a lot of birds, like fish getting
chopped up in hydro electric turbines. And bats, which are fragile, can die in the vacuum behind
a wind turbine. Their lungs collapse.”
The company is also a distributor for all sorts of street lights,
security cameras and thermal
imaging cameras.
Linemen in the Northwest only
touch wires using an orange,
fiberglass stick that does not
conduct electricity. Utilities in
other regions consider rubber
gloves enough, but holes and
tears in them can be dangerous.
Squirrels don’t die when they
run along power lines because
they are not grounded. “When a
bald eagle standing on a pole
flaps his wings and touches two
insulators, all of a sudden that
eagle’s dead,” says Osgood.
The utility puts rubber boots
over the wires and insulators.
When designing the light for
EnGen, Osgood says they first
made it so it had to be held out
at arm’s length but linemen complained that it was a strain on
their backs. It’s 15 pounds of
metal. They redesigned it so it
can be lifted vertically and
hooked over the wire, which uses
shoulder power instead.
basically identical. Today they’re all
different. And the ones they bought
five years ago are all being replaced.”
Navigating these choppy waters
are as much a challenge as designing circuits, shipping product or
wrestling with a database. For this
little EnGen, that’s the challenge.
[email protected]
REPORTER
PHOTOGRAPHERS
Joseph Gallivan
Jonathan House, Jaime Valdez
PortlandTribune
WEB SITE
OFFICES
DESIGN
Keith Sheffield
portlandtribune.com
CONTACT
[email protected]
6605 S.E. Lake Road
Portland, OR 97222
503-226-6397 (NEWS)
BUSINESS TRIBUNE 5
Tuesday, March 3, 2015
CYBER SECURITY FOR SMALL BUSINESSES
W
e’ve all heard about
tem.
the cyber attacks on
3. Small businesses’ partnerlarge businesses—in- ships with larger businesses procluding Home Depot,
vide back-channel access to a
Anthem and Target—but small
hacker’s true targets.
businesses are actually
Protecting personal inthe most common tarformation should be a
gets of online scam arthigh priority for any busiists.
ness. A data breach is not
According to StaySafejust a financial problem,
Online.org, 71 percent of
but it will make customdata breaches happen to
ers lose trust in a busismall businesses, and
ness. Your customers will
nearly half of all small
stop coming to you if they
businesses have been
don’t believe their inforthe victim of a cyber atmation is safe in your
tack. Visa Inc. reports
hands. Among small busithat 95 percent of credit
nesses that suffer a
BETTER
card breaches it discovbreach, a staggering 60
ers are from its smallest B U S I N E S S
percent will go out of
business customers.
business in six months,
Criminals are attracted to small
according to Experian.
businesses for three reasons:
To protect your business and
1. Due to a lack of resources,
your customers, it is imperative
they are less equipped to handle
you have safe-measures in place as
an attack.
well as a plan for recovery in the
2. The information hackers want event of a cyber attack. Consider
— credit card credentials, intellec- the tips below, and read Better
tual property, personally identifiBusiness Bureau’s comprehensive
able information — is often less
guide on data security for busiguarded on a small business sysnesses at: bbb.org/data-security.
Megan
Lum
Minimize what you save.
Don’t collect or keep any information you don’t absolutely
need. When information is no
longer needed, make sure it is
destroyed responsibly.
Restrict access.
Limit access to data to only the
people who need the information in order to do their jobs.
Sensitive electronic information
should be encrypted, and portable electronic devices should be
secured. Any paper records
should be locked up when not
in use.
Use strong passwords.
Never use the default password
provided by your IT person or
service provider. Each computer
user at your company should
have his or her own unique
password. Never use simple
passwords such as your name,
your business name, “12345,”
“ABCDE” or “password,” and
never use the same password
for multiple accounts. Strong
passwords include a combination of numbers, letters and
symbols, and they should be
changed every 60 days.
Block intruders.
Use up-to-date antivirus protection and firewalls. Most antivirus
programs will automatically
update the software as new
viruses and spyware become
known, but you should also run
a full scan for viruses and spam
at least once a week. Make sure
your Internet connection is
secure, and keep any guest
Wi-Fi networks completely separate from the rest of your networks. Be aware that personal
websites, including social net-
works, can be a gateway for
malware and viruses; use business computers for businessonly purposes.
Share with caution.
Use a secure connection, such
as SSL technology, when transmitting data over the Internet.
Do not transmit sensitive information via email unless it is
encrypted. When mailing physical records, use a security envelope, request package tracking
and require the recipient to sign
for the package.
Back up information. Back up
data on all computers automatically, or at least weekly, including word processing documents,
spreadsheets, databases, financial records and human resources files. Store backups in a
secure location that is offsite or
in the cloud.
Megan Lum works for the Better Business Bureau serving Alaska, Oregon and Western Washington. She can be reached at:
[email protected].
6 BUSINESS TRIBUNE
Tuesday, March 3, 2015
TRUDY’S
LIVING
ROOM
FOCUSES ON RELATIONSHIPS, COMMUNITY
Wilsonville furniture
store is known for its
low prices and great
customer service
T
rudy Palo has learned two
things very well during
her years in the furniture
business.
“I don’t worry about what anyone else is doing, I only concentrate on what’s important to serving my customers,” said Palo, who
operates Trudy’s Living Room and
its large showroom off the Wilsonville Road. “I know that sounds
cheesy, but it’s true; I know what I
can sell it for and I know I can sell
it very affordably to people
and give them
beautiful pieces
so they are always happy.”
It’s the worldview through which
Palo and her former husband and
partner, Rick Palo, operated Furniture Outlet, the chain of stores the
couple started in Hubbard in 1996.
The Palos expanded to other cities and eventually sold the business. But they did not leave the
furniture business. Instead, they
returned to their roots and several
years ago opened a new store in
Wilsonville bearing her name.
Eighteen months ago they made
the decision to move to the Wilsonville Road Business Park, a relatively new commercial development at the intersection of Wilsonville and Kinsman roads. And like
the rest of the city, that’s when the
business really seemed to take off.
“This business is insane, it is so
busy, and it’s because we had a record breaking month last month,”
Palo said during a recent visit to
the store. “We’re so crazy busy it’s
nuts. We’re just a small hometown
store, and I wanted this to be a
place for people to come in and feel
loved and cared for. And holy c--p,
it’s turned into this powerhouse lit-
BY JOSH
KULLA
Trudys’ Living
Room specializes
in locally-made
furniture,
including this
living room set
made by Dick
Fredericks of
Woodburn.
PAMPLIN MEDIA
GROUP: JOSH KULLA
tle store.”
Palo is now running the store as
a sole proprietor, but little else has
changed from the early days. The
store carries Broyhill, Ashley
Benchcraft, Jonathan Lewis and
Emerald Furniture, among others.
It also has more local producers
such as Dick Frederick’s of Woodburn.
“Our niche is we offer high-end
products without the price tags,”
she said. “We have a great American-made program through several manufacturers. We’re big about
supporting not only American
made, but specifically locally made
products.”
Combine that with a dash of art
and charity and you have the makings of a recipe for success.
“My desire is to have all of my
Wilsonville
resident Trudy
Palo has
operated Trudy’s
Living Room out
of its current
location off
Wilsonville Road
for the past 18
months.
PAMPLIN MEDIA
GROUP: JOSH KULLA
walls be local artists,” she said,
looking around at the photography
and painting by several Wilsonville-based artists adorning the
walls of the large, back showroom.
“And so far half my showroom is
local artists. People love that.”
Then there are the non-stop fundraising efforts and support for an
array of causes. Through the years
these have ranged from various
military veterans groups and
events to the annual Grace Chapel
rummage sale in Wilsonville.
There’s also plenty in between.
And, Palo said, it all plays a role in
her business success. That success, in turn, allows her to continue
supporting others.
“I feel like our following is because we do have an exceptional
reputation in the industry,” she
said. “Because we really take care
of our customers. In my opinion,
it’s just furniture, but what’s important is the relationships I’m
building with people in the community. That’s why we are so popular and that’s why we are so
busy, because we genuinely do
care. Things don’t always go right;
there will be imperfections. But
we really genuinely take care of
people.”
BUSINESS TRIBUNE 7
Tuesday, March 3, 2015
PORTLAND’S
FIRST
HYATT
Construction has
begun on the
203-room,
161,000 sq. ft.
Hyatt House
hotel at the
south end of the
RiverPlace
neighborhood.
It’s adjacent to
the Portland
Streetcar line,
and a short walk
or ride to the
Portland Aerial
Tram.
COMES TO
RIVERPLACE
BY JOHN VINCENT
C
onstruction is officially underway
on downtown
Portland’s first
Hyatt-branded hotel.
The extended-stay Hyatt
Place project at the corner
of SW River Parkway and
SW River Drive will bring
203 additional hotel rooms
to the RiverPlace neighborhood. The south end of
RiverPlace creates a
bridge between downtown
Portland and the growing
South Waterfront district.
The six-story, 161,000
square-foot building will
include conference space,
plus a pool and fitness
center. Its location is adjacent to a Portland Streetcar stop, and a short walk
or streetcar ride to the
Portland Aerial Tram.
A ceremonial groundbreaking was held on Feb.
24, with representatives
on hand from the City of
Portland, the Portland Development Commission,
developers and investors.
Mayor Charlie Hales
spoke of the partnerships
that have brought developments such as the Pearl
and the South Waterfront
together.
“Cities take a long time,
neighborhoods take a long
time and it’s important
that we take our time and
do it right,” says the mayor. “It’s also important
that we have a shared vision of what should be, between the public sector
and the private sector.”
Developers include
Williams/Dame and Associates and EB5 Global,
a firm that raises equity
capital for real estate
projects through the EB5 Investor Green Card
Program. Foreign nationals who invest $1 million
or more in projects that
create or preserve at
least 10 jobs can use the
visa program to acquire
permanent resident status. For projects in “targeted development” or
rural projects, the program only requires an
investment of $500,000
per investor.
EB5 Global is also responsible for ensuring the
project’s continued compliance with the visa program.
It’s the second Portland
hotel project completed
under the program by Williams/Dame and EB5
Global. The first was the
Pearl’s Marriott Residence
Inn.
“We wanted to be in the
Pearl, and we got that do-
Developer
Homer Williams
of Williams/Dane
and Associates
and Portland
Mayor Charlie
Hales joined in
tossing
ceremonial
shovels of dirt
for the
groundbreaking
of the Hyatt
House hotel in
the RiverPlace
neighborhood.
Artist rendering
of the Hyatt
House hotel in
Portland
RiverPlace
development.
The 203-room
extended stay
hotel is slated to
open in June
2016.
TRIBUNE PHOTOS:
JOHN M. VINCENT
RENDERING COURTESY
OF SERA ARCHITECTS
ne,” says developer Homer
Williams, adding “We really
felt that with what’s happening in South Waterfront that
we really needed to get a hotel down here.” He feels that
the neighborhood still needs
additional housing and such
community essentials as a
grocery store to be complete.
“Once we had a chance to
buy this property it was kind
of a no-brainer for us. I think
we’ll do really well here, providing a service that’s really
needed here for the hill,” he
says. He expects Oregon
Health and Science Universi-
ty hospital users, doctors
and researchers to make up
a large portion of the hotels
customers.
SERA Architects designed
the building, which is expected to achieve LEED Silver
status for environmental responsibility. Howard S.
Wright is the building’s general contractor. The $55 million project is slated for completion and opening in June
2016.
John M. Vincent can be reached
at [email protected] or @
OregonsCarGuy on Twitter.
8 BUSINESS TRIBUNE
Tuesday, March 3, 2015
STATEWIDE
PAMPLIN MEDIA GROUP: KEVIN SPERL
Prineville residents, from left, Sam Viles, Karen Close, and Steve Duke work in an open-concept office area replete with monitoring stations, always keeping an eye on the computers that serve up Facebook’s
users ‘walls.’
Five years ago, Facebook came to Prineville and
broke ground on its first company-owned data center
FACEBOOK’S
FIFTH
BY KEVIN SPERL
F
acebook is marking the fifth
anniversary of its arrival in
Prineville, celebrating the
groundbreaking of its first,
and only, company-owned data center
a
facility
in January, 2010.
According to the center’s director,
K Patchett, in a short time the faciliKen
ty has grown to play host to more than
on billion virtual visitors a day, repreone
se
senting
exponential growth since its
r server came online in December
first
20
2010.
“This is the heartbeat of Facebook,”
he said, as he walked thorough one of
th center’s cavernous rooms housing
the
th
thousands
of computer servers. “This
is not only a building with computers,
bu a successful project of power, light
but
an cooling.”
and
With a reported 890,000 million acti daily users, Facebook is tasked
tive
w storing an enormous amount of
with
da comprised of those family photos
data
and day-to-day trivia of life posted by
its users.
In addition to Prineville, data centers
are located in Sweden, Iowa, North Carolina, and Virginia.
At the time Facebook came to town,
the Central Oregonian reported “with
Crook County’s unemployment rate for
December at a seasonally adjusted rate
of 16.8 percent, news of new jobs is welcome news indeed. The people who
eventually get these jobs will pay income taxes, buy houses, and shop in
Central Oregon - all things that will
benefit the local economy.”
Facebook now boasts an employee
base of just under 10,000 worldwide and
its stock is valued at $75 a share yielding a market capitalization value of
$212 billion.
Facebook is only 11 years old, coming a long way since it was founded as
a college project on the campus of Harvard University.
BUSINESS TRIBUNE 9
Tuesday, March 3, 2015
Facemash to Facebook
In October of 2003, Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg started a
website called Facemash. A typical college-aged student, Zuckerberg had created a site where student pictures could be compared
side-by-side, with users rating
which was “hotter.”
In January, 2004, Zuckerberg developed “the Facebook,” which attracted 1,500 users within its first
24 hours of on-line life. Zuckerberg
described the site as “a universal
website that can contact people
around the university.” Initially
restricted to Harvard University,
more than half of its student population had quickly registered.
Soon after, the site was opened to
students at Stanford, Columbia,
and Yale, and eventually reached
most university campuses in the
U.S. and Canada.
In June, 2004, “the” was dropped
from the site’s name, the web domain facebook.com was purchased
for $200,000, and the company’s offices relocated to Palo Alto, Calif.
By 2005, 2,000 colleges and 25,000
high schools were connected to
the site, and in Sept. of 2006, Facebook opened its “wall” to those
over the age of 13 with a valid
email address, resulting in a current usage of 1.7 billion users
worldwide.
FACEBOOK
Facebook’s Data Center in
Prineville on the web at: facebook.com/prinevilledatacenter
Facebook’s economic impact on
Central Oregon: econw.com/
media/ap_files/Facebook_-_
Economic_and_Fiscal_Impact_
vide the best experience,” he said.
“And, all of our data centers deliver the same experience.
Getting and giving awards
PAMPLIN MEDIA GROUP: KEVIN SPERL
When Facebook purchased the property from the city of Prineville, there was
nothing but sagebrush. Now, five years later, the company’s first data center is
home to the data of more than a billion users.
Not just any data center
The award-winning building
built in Prineville, which, according to Patchett, “is one massive
airflow machine,” earned Facebook Fast Company Magazine’s
“By Design Award.”
The buildings housing Facebook’s servers consist of multiple
rooms, each containing thousands
of computers. A significant
amount of heat is generated, constantly monitored to maintain an
operational environment that ensures maximum availability to
Facebook’s users.
This effort traditionally required a lot of water and air-conditioning, but not in these buildings.
“We use less water than a laundromat,” proudly proclaimed
Patchett. “The environment of
Central Oregon is great for its cool
air and dryness, allowing us to operate efficiently.”
Walking behind a row of servers, Patchett noted the hot air being exhausted from the humming
servers.
“We move over 1.3 million cubic
feet of air, mixing outside air with
this heated air,” he explained.
“By capturing outside air and
cooling it with pressurized mist,
no air-conditioning is required for
the servers.”
The Hypergreen Corporation
PAMPLIN MEDIA GROUP: KEVIN SPERL
Row after row of servers occupy the massive buildings at the Facebook site.
Prineville’s weather was one of the predominant reasons that Facebook decided
to build there.
agreed, saying that the center’s
buildings are “24 percent cheaper
to maintain than the typical energy-gobbling data center. And, also,
it looks good.”
There are two buildings on the
campus, each approximately
300,000 square feet. Patchett is
quick to use terms like “PUE,” and
“WUE,” terms that represent a
building’s power and water usage
effectiveness.
Simply put, PUE measures the
amount of power entering a commercial building as a ratio to the
amount of power needed to run its
computers. The EPA has established its gold standard” for PUE
as 1.5. This ratio of power available to power used yields a factor
of greater than 1 — the larger the
number the less efficient utilization is, conversely the closer the
value is to 1, the more efficient the
building. Pathcett is proud to note
that Prineville’s data center has
been measured at a PUE of 1.06.
This efficiency is accomplished
in a number of ways including
evaporative cooling systems, reuse
of server generated heat output,
and efficient electrical distribution
systems.
All that efficiency and environmental monitoring is done for a
single purpose — Facebook wants
people to retrieve their data when
and where they want it.
“We come to work every day to
serve 1.7 billion users,” said Patchett. “Our focus is to help people retrieve their data they need and for
Facebook to be the place users
want to come and share knowledge, hopes and dreams.”
Patchett said that Prineville’s
data center serves Facebook users
that are “geographical close,” including the West Coast and Asia.
“Our network is tuned to pro-
Termed an “economic gamechanger for the region,” by the Oregon Economic Development Association, Facbook’s data center in
Prineville has received numerous
awards in Central Oregon recognizing its economic impact and innovative building technology.
In 2011, the company was named
the “Business Development Success Story of the Year,” and received the Engineering News-Record magazine’s “Green Project”
award as well as the publication’s
first-ever “Editors’ Choice Best of
the Best.”
The Central Oregon Association
of Realtors recognized Facebook
with its “Outstanding Contribution to the Community” award for
its reduction of energy use and
minimal environmental impact.
The Prineville-Crook County
Chamber of Commerce awarded
Facebook its “Community Enrichment Award” and “2013 Large
Company of the Year” award.
Patchett said that Facebook is
not only in Central Oregon to conduct business but to keep a promise to the community and schools
to be a good neighbor.
“We have awarded over $1 million in grants to kids through our
Local Grants program announced
each year,” said Patchett. “After
five years, we have become neighbors and a part of the community.”
The “Local Grants” program,
initiated in 2011, has benefited numerous local nonprofits annually,
and this past year recognized organizations such as Central Oregon Community College’s Prineville Campus, Crook County High
School, Christmas in the Pines,
Crook County Foundation, and
Crook County Kids Inc.
Charitable contributions from
Facebook have put the power of
technology towards education at
all levels and brought the community closer together.
Facebook has donated $100,000
to Crook County High School in
support of the school’s STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering,
and Mathematics) educational
curriculum.
“We’re hoping that these grants
will help prepare and inspire
Crook County High School students to pursue jobs and careers
in technology, engineering, science and math fields,” said Williams at the time, adding that, statistically, only 6 percent of high
school students go on to obtain a
degree in a STEM-oriented field.
Most recently, Facebook sponsored the KidWind Challenge,
which was hosted by Crook County Middle School, attracting 90
middle school students to build
homemade turbines. Local students Olivia Dixon, Elizabeth
Blanchard and Abbigail Chaney,
will compete at the Pacific Regional KidWind challenge to be held at
the Oregon Museum of Science
and Industry (OMSI) in Portland
on May 9.
The Facebook Data Center employs 126 full-time staff, 70 percent
of which live in the Prineville area.
The workforce includes expertise
in the areas of mechanical, electrical, and sheet metal trades, along
with computer server technicians
and security.
Patchett has extensive work experience with Microsoft, Compaq,
and Google.
“I ran the data center for Google
in The Dalles,” he said. “I am a
Northwest person and I have always found reasons to live in Central Oregon.”
Patchett was on the lookout for
another reason to return to the area when he learned that Facebook
had made its decision to come to
Prineville.
“I wanted this job,” admitted
Patchett. “Facebook is the right
company, and they are doing it
here.”
The future of Facebook in Prineville
Patchett is quick to note that
Facebook is in Prineville to stay.
“We have made the investment
in Central Oregon and with our
city, state and local officials,” he
said. “Our first and biggest bet
was Prineville as a data center
and is our first owned piece of
property anywhere.”
Patchett feels that Prineville’s
enterprise zone will continue to be
a draw to other business, and he
hopes they come. He compares
what Prineville has done with the
high tech industry to that done by
the railroad pioneers that came
before, connecting Prineville to
the main railroad lines.
“With us and Apple being here
means it is working,” he noted.
“The story here is about Prineville. Facebook needed Prineville
and we have worked well together.”
10 BUSINESS TRIBUNE
Tuesday, March 3, 2015
RETRO ‘SECRET
SPEAKEASY’
COMES TO WESTMORELAND
BY DAVID
F. ASHTON
A
nyone who has visited
the Westmoreland U.S.
Post Office building has
seen the house across
the street — since 1986 until recently, the home of Schoendecken
Coffee Roasters.
Rose City Coffee Company
moved into the space after Schoendecken’s Nancy Duncan retired
in May, 2013, but it moved out a
year later, to a retail storefront on
Milwaukie Avenue.
Now, with windows of the small
Victorian style home papered over,
and workers rushing around the
structure, many neighbors have
been wondering what’s to become
of the commercially-zoned yellow
PAMPLIN MEDIA GROUP: DAVID F. ASHTON
house.
Guests entering the “Bible Club” across from the Sellwood-Moreland Post Office will be treated to a unique experience – like stepping into a time machine, taking
“It was originally going to be my them back to simpler, more elegant, and much less legal times.
own private bar,” entrepreneur Ricardo “Ryk” Huelga said. As owner Oregon licensed by the OLCC withare televisions, illuminated signs
if I hadn’t been in L.A. I love the
of and jewelry designer for Starlout outside signage.
— or people talking on cell phones. old homes and buildings in Portingear, he’s well-known in Japan as
“In the upper window, there is
“We’re okay with people taking land. Keeping the historic look [of
Where: 6716 SE 16th Ave.,
“Ryk Maverick.”
an old 1920 shipman’s signal lanpictures and sending out a text
the new club] is important to
Portland
He’s designed lounges for others tern — half green glass, half red
message, but those talking on cell me.”
■ Green light means they’re open,
— in Los Angeles, and in other cit- glass. If you see a green light,
phones will be politely, but earHuelga said he had to meet
and a red light means they’re
ies. “I’ve spent years collecting an- you’ll know we’re open to the pubnestly, asked to step outside. We
with his architect and head back
closed.
tique décor items from the 1850s to lic.” That will primarily be in the
want this to be a quiet place.”It
to meet with city officials. “Keep■ Take your cell phone
1920s,” Huelga remarked; “But no
evenings.
seems that, nowadays, the art of
ing up with the city codes is difficonversations outside.
other [club] owner has been will“When you walk in, you’ll be
conversation is lost. There are
cult, while trying to keep this
ing to ‘go the distance’ I will go, to
stepping back in time,” explained
very few places I can go for a
looking historical.”
make an authentic design for a
Huelga. “The cash register is from
drink and have a conversation,
With a maximum of 40 to 50
club like this.”
1908. You’ll hear no ‘mixer guns’
fixtures, picture frames — and the
because of the high noise level.”
seats, it is not intended to be a
Named after a probation-era
used in making drinks behind the
photos in them — are originals, not
After growing up in the Portbig place. “This is, for better
speakeasy, his new establishment - bar. When the bartenders aren’t
reproductions.”
land area, Huelga said he moved
words, a ‘passion project’ for me,”
the “Bible Club” - is a museum,
making drinks, they’ll be handHuelga said he’s willing to take
to Los Angeles, where he built his Huelga smiled.
where guests will be able to come
chiseling ice cubes from high-denextra steps to make this club a spe- business and stayed for about 25
Yes, you won’t see any banners
and have a drink.
sity ice.”
cial destination - even down to reyears - far longer than he’d antic- or signs outside the house at 6716
“There will be no outside sigPatrons of the establishment
placing the hollow-core doors with ipated.
S.E. 16th Avenue — but word is,
nage,” Huelga said. “If you don’t
won’t drink from ordinary bar
solid doors, with period-correct
“But, after traveling all over
you’re likely to see the “green
know it’s there, you would not
glasses. “All of our beverages will
hinges and knobs.
the world, I wouldn’t have as
light” in the upper window by
know.” It could be the only bar in
be served in crystal. The lighting
Things you won’t see in the club keen an appreciation of Portland
some evening in mid-March.
THE BIBLE CLUB
BUSINESS TRIBUNE 11
Tuesday, March 3, 2015
Toothbrush grants come to Oregon
Oregon adds to Federal
innovation grants
By JOSEPH GALLIVAN
The Tribune
Business Oregon, under a new
Governor, has come out swinging for Oregon’s small businesses.
Last week, the state’s economic
development agency announced a
$400,000 grant program to “help
small businesses fund research
and development of new, innovative products,” according to a release.
The idea is to provide some
state money to boost the Federal
money available through the
Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer, or SBIR/STTR.
Many states give a leg up to companies going after this money but
until now, not Oregon.
The feds award $2.5 billion in
grants annually through SBIR/
STTR. Innovative products that
Portland’s
BEST
local
radio!
500450.010715
have made it to market include
the Sonicare electric toothbrush
and the iRobot. The companies
Qualcomm and Symantec were also assisted by the program, which
began in 1982 as a way of stimulating innovation in small businesses.
A quarter of the money’s going
on marketing.
Business Oregon’s $400,000
grant program will provide
$100,000 to expand an existing
program that helps companies
prepare SBIR/STTR grant applications. The remaining $300,000 will
be for matching grants to companies that win the federal grants to
help make their innovations more
market ready.
The Federal grants are big.
Phase I grants fund research up
to a proof of concept and typically
up to $150,000, over six months.
Phase II goes further, to the development of a market-ready
product, up to $1 million, over two
years.
Oregon’s grants are much
smaller, and go to companies who
qualify for the federal money.
“We’re helping companies prepare applications for Phase 1,
companies that have got a good
idea but don’t have the ability to
tell a story, who need a grant writer’s help, before they send it to a
federal agency,” Business Oregon’s Innovation
Strategist Mark
Brady.
Some federal
agencies forbid
their grants to be
spent on things
like marketing or
intellectual property protection, so
ROBBINS
the Oregon part is
designed to fill
such gaps.
Entrepreneurs can’t just take
the money and run. They have to
report back the outcomes, how
the funds helped to get product to
market, or if necessary, explain
when things went wrong. Business Oregon is also keen to know
how it could do the process better.
There’s also a Phase Zero,
which maxes out at $5,000, for
help filling in the forms them-
FIRST
EDITION
TERRY BOYD’S
5am to 9am
Monday-Friday
9am
5am to
to Noon
9am
Monday-Friday
with Tim Hohl and Terry Travis
selves.
“We try to be mindful of paperwork,” says Brady. “We know early stage companies are working
long hours and doing a million
things at once.”
Brady says the small Phase Zero
program has “been in the works for
a while, we just didn’t promote it.”
“For sustainable economic
growth in both urban and rural
Oregon, we must continually look
for ways to give small business
and entrepreneurs a leg-up,” said
Governor Kate Brown in a statement. “Leveraging state grant
funds to access federal funds fosters innovation that not only
brings great ideas to life, it creates more opportunities to grow
Oregon business statewide.”
“We created this program to
help Oregon small businesses
earn a bigger share of federal research dollars to transform ideas
on a white board into products
sold around the globe,” said Sean
Robbins, Business Oregon’s director.
[email protected]
WORLD
3pm to 6pm
Monday-Friday
12 BUSINESS TRIBUNE
Tuesday, March 3, 2015
Fred Meyer in
preparation
for a revamp
PAMPLIN MEDIA GROUP: GARY ALLEN
A remodel is planned for Fred Meyer in Newberg as part of a rolling program that sees each store location refurbished roughly every 10 years. The exterior will remain mostly unchanged while the interior
will undergo large-scale changes.
Grocery store to receive
several new features,
existing departments
refurbished during
six-month remodel
F
red Meyer’s Newberg store
is preparing for some major changes in the coming
months as the company remodels all of its
stores roughly
every 10 years
on a rolling
schedule.
“This is Newberg’s year,” said Melinda Merrill,
Fred Meyer spokeswoman.
The renovated store has been
BY COLIN
STAUB
designed by Portland-based Mackenzie architecture firm, which has
worked with Fred Meyer on a number of past projects, including the
Wilsonville location as well as the
newly rebuilt Stadium store in
Portland.
But that’s not to say the Newberg store will be identical to any
other location.
“We update our décor package
every few years,” Merrill said.
“It’ll have a little bit more of a
Northwest feel. Some wood to it,
some colors, it will be more in
style.”
While the exterior of the store
will remain largely unchanged,
with the exception of new paint
and restriping in the parking lot,
the interior will receive a complete makeover.
“The floors, which are tile now,
we’ll be pulling up the tile and polishing underneath, so it will be polished concrete,” Merrill explained.
Several sections of the store
will be completely remodeled, including the Fred Meyer Jewelers,
the pharmacy and the electronics
department. The in-store Starbucks location will also be refurbished with new fixtures.
As far as interior rearrangement
possibly the biggest change customers will notice is the produce
section, which will be partially
moved to the back of the store for
services such as cutting fruit.
The store will add several brandnew features, one of which is a
Murray’s Cheese kiosk.
“We’ve been putting (Murray’s)
in at some of our stores in the area,” Merrill said. “They have real
gourmet cheeses, but also a lot of
local cheeses that are part of the kiosk.”
A wine bar will also be installed
in the store, to be utilized for wine
tastings and other wine-centric
events.
“A lot of the local winemakers
come to the Tualatin store, the
Wilsonville store, talk to customers, so this will be a nice easy one
for them to go to,” Merrill said.
Besides the full departmental
overhauls, many of the general fixtures in the store will be replaced
and updated.
“One main reason why we do
this every 10 years: the fixtures
that hold food and keep it safe are
always getting better,” Merrill said.
The coolers that hold frozen food
in the grocery section will all be
replaced, and will include LED motion sensors that will trigger the
lights only when people are in the
aisles, in an effort to conserve energy.
In the same vein, skylights will
be installed in the roof which will
let in more natural light. A more
efficient lighting system will work
in conjunction with the natural
light, only toggling on when the
natural light is not bright enough.
“You’ll actually be standing
there and the lights will go off,”
Merrill explained. “It’ll look better,
feel better, be brighter and make it
more efficient.”
The remodel carries an overall
price tag of about $7.5 million.
While customers will observe a
fair amount of work taking place
the store will remain open
throughout the remodel, which is
scheduled to begin in April and
conclude in the fall.
BUSINESS TRIBUNE 13
Tuesday, March 3, 2015
YOURBUSINESS
Email your business briefs to:
[email protected]
Gray & Company re-launches
cherry brand
Gray & Company recently relaunched their CherryMan Farm
to Market Maraschinos, a nonGMO product that is also free
from artificial flavors, colors and
preservatives.
Gray & Company is the category leader in traceability. Last November, CherryMan released a
video, highlighting the Farm to
Market story from the perspective of the family farmers.
“Gray & Company is proud to
support the growth of American
agriculture. We select our cherries from family farmers in Oregon and Michigan, whom we’ve
known for decades. Our packaging features a scannable QR
code on each jar, so consumers
can trace the cherries in their
jar to the orchard in which they
were grown,” states Gray &
Company President, Josh Reynolds.
Randall Children’s Hospital, Jersey
Mike’s team up for month of giving
Randall Children’s Hospital at
Legacy Emanuel is joining forces
with seven Jersey Mike’s Subs
restaurants throughout the Portland area for the fifth-annual
March “Month of Giving” fundraising campaign.
During the month of March,
customers can make a donation
to Randall Children’s Hospital at
Legacy Emanuel at any area Jersey Mike’s restaurant.
The campaign will culminate
in Jersey Mike’s “Day of Giving”
on Wednesday, March 25, when
100 percent of the day’s sales at
Jersey Mike’s locations nationwide will go to more than 120
different charities including hospitals, youth organizations, food
banks and more.
“Randall Children’s Hospital
at Legacy Emanuel is pleased
and honored to have been chosen as a Jersey Mike’s Month of
Giving partner,” said Mady Murrey, RN, MN, Chief Administrative Officer for Randall Children’s Hospital.
Last year’s Month of Giving
campaign raised $2.1 million for
100 different charities nationwide. Since 2010, Jersey Mike’s
locations throughout the country have raised nearly $10 million for worthy local causes and
distributed more than 1 million
free sub sandwiches to help numerous causes.
Joane Moceri appointed
dean of University of
Portland’s School of Nursing
University of Portland president
Rev. Mark L. Poorman, C.S.C., has
appointed Joane Moceri as dean of
the University of Portland’s School
of Nursing, effective July 1. Moceri
will succeed
Joanne Warner,
who is retiring after serving as
dean of the School
of Nursing since
2007.
Moceri joined
the University as
an associate proMOCERI
fessor in 2012, and
began service as
the associate dean for the undergraduate nursing program in May
2013. Before her time at UP, Moceri
taught at the University of Washington Tacoma in the B.S.N. completion and graduate nursing programs, and was the founding director of the Pierce College Nursing Program where she focused on
increasing the enrollment of underrepresented populations in
nursing.
“I am pleased to announce the
appointment of Joane Moceri as
dean of the School of Nursing
based on a recommendation from
the search committee and the provost,” said Fr. Poorman. “Under
her leadership, the undergraduate
nursing program has grown numerous additional clinical sites,
streamlined and strengthened many operational processes, and recruited a number of new faculty.”
Oregon manufacturing jobs rose
nearly 4 percent in 2014
Oregon gained manufacturing
jobs in 2014 at a rate more than
double the national average, reports the 2015 Oregon Manufacturers Directory, an industrial database and directory published by
Manufacturers’ News, Inc. (MNI).
According to data collected by
MNI, Oregon manufacturers added
8,641 jobs or 3.9 percent, from December 2013 to December 2014,
more than twice the 1.8 percet national average gain reported by the
Labor Department for the same
time period.
Manufacturers’ News reports
Oregon is now home to 5,707 manufacturers employing 228,829 workers. Oregon’s nearly 4 percent gain
was the largest reported by MNI
for any U.S. state in 2014.
“Following years of losses stem-
ming from the housing crisis and
recession, Oregon’s industrial sector has picked up speed,” says Tom
Dubin, President of the Evanston,
IL-based publishing company,
which has been surveying industry
since 1912. “Its diverse economy,
abundant natural resources, and
expanding food processing industry has increased investment and
boosted employment.”
Manufacturers’ News reports
gains were led by the food products industry as well as lumber
and wood processing. The food
products sector now ranks as Oregon’s top industry for jobs, employing 32,841, up 5.1 percent in 2014.
Oregon’s sizable lumber sector
saw a 4.8 percent increase in jobs,
according to MNI.
Job increases were recorded in
nearly all of Oregon’s industrial
sectors with employment in stone/
clay/glass up 11.6 percent; instruments/related products, up 6.6 percent; transportation equipment, up
5.3 percent and fabricated metals,
up 4.3 percent.
Printing and publishing lost the
most jobs, down 5 percent in 2014.
MNI reports manufacturing employment increased 5.2 percent in
Portland, with the first-ranked city
home to 51,870 workers.
McGiverin named president
of Northwest Food
Processors Association
The Northwest Food Processors
Association (NWFPA) recently
named David McGiverin as President.
McGiverin has been with the
NWFPA for nearly
eight years, representing members
on policies regarding sustainability,
environmental and
workforce productivity and has been
serving as interim
president since AuMCGIVERIN
gust 2014.
“David McGiverin has brought new energy and enthusiasm to the association that
benefits both the members and the
organization,” said Jim Robbins,
2015 Chair of the NWFPA Board of
Directors, and Vice President of
Quality Assurance and Food Safety at Wm. Bolthouse Farms Inc.
“His knowledge of workforce, energy and governmental affairs is
reflective of the concerns the industry faces as members grow
CONTINUED / Page 14
Two Kilts pulls plug on
Hillsboro expansion
Brewery will stay
put in Sherwood
By DOUG BURKHARDT
Pamplin Media Group
Easy come, easy go. It looks
like the long-anticipated Two
Kilts Brewing, which would
have filled an empty storefront in the 300 block of East
Main Street, will not be opening in downtown Hillsboro.
Two Kilts has a 4,400-squarefoot building in Sherwood and
reportedly needed room to expand. The Hillsboro site would
have provided 11,000 square
feet of space.
The micro-brewery started
with about 500 bottles a month,
and now averages closer to
12,000 bottles per month, hence
the need for more room to grow.
Last week, signs that had
been on the window for several
weeks, which promoted a January 2015 opening, had been removed.
Chris Dillon and Alex McGaw, the owners of Two Kilts, a
Sherwood business that has
been in operation since 2011, finally made it “official” in a
Facebook posting that in itself
sparked more controversy.
“Hillsboro is not going to happen,” read an entry posted to
the Two Kilts Facebook page at
1:18 p.m. Feb. 14. “Sorry! Staying in the ‘Wood!”
Some Two Kilts supporters
were not happy at how casual
the owners were about letting
the public know they were no
longer considering moving to
Hillsboro.
“Wow. Just like that? No explanation?” wrote Kevin Zuercher in a follow-up Facebook
post in response just four minutes later.
Six minutes after that, Kevin
Kane concurred with Zuercher’s reaction.
“What he said,” Kane posted
at 1:28 p.m.
Hillsboro resident Ward
Ramsdell was even more direct.
HILLSBORO TRIBUNE PHOTO: DOUG BURKHARDT
Signs that had been in a window in
the 300 block of East Main Street
— promoting a January 2015
opening for Two Kilts Brewery —
disappeared last week.
“I think you underestimate
the stir you caused in Hillsboro,” Ramsdell posted at 3:28
p.m. “There were a great many
people excited about the prospect of a brewpub downtown ... I
do think your fan base here deserves more than a one-line end
to the story.”
Two Kilts eventually got the
message and posted a response
later that day.
“My bad, you guys. And definitely no disrespect for Hillsboro and their awesome community of people,” read the
Facebook entry posted at 9:32
p.m. Feb. 14. “The building unfortunately ended up not working for us. Lots of unexpected
cash and problems with the
building ... that we were unfortunately unable to fix with the
landlord. So sorry and absolutely no disrespect.”
After reading the back and
forth entries, Ramsdell said
that while he was disappointed
at the demise of the Two Kilts
project, he remained optimistic
another new business will move
in to the empty building soon.
“Here’s hoping something
similar is able to take root
there,” he said.
14 BUSINESS TRIBUNE
Tuesday, March 3, 2015
YOURBUSINESS
Email your business briefs to:
[email protected]
Evergreen will contest
motion to sell off planes
■ From page 13
their businesses and expand their
global reach.”
Baker, Ringold elected
to PBA Board of Directors
The Portland Business Alliance
recently appointed Brett Baker
and Debra J. Ringold to its board
of directors.
Baker is the
general manager
of Austin Industries, and Ringold
is dean and JELDWEN professor of
free enterprise at
Willamette University’s Atkinson
BAKER
Graduate School
of Management.
“I am looking
forward to engaging these two business leaders in our
organization,” said
Debbie Kitchin,
principal at InterWorks LLC and
chair of the AlliRINGOLD
ance board. “With
Brett’s responsibilities managing a local business
that participates in global trade
and Debra’s marketing expertise,
they will both be great assets to
our board.”
Austin Industries is located in
Newberg and includes A-dec, Allison Inn & Spa, and Springbrook
development project and family
philanthropy. Baker spent the majority of his professional career in
banking, serving primarily Oregon and Northwest markets.
Ringold teaches courses in private, public and nonprofit sector
marketing; marketing research;
marketing communications; and
marketing and public policy. Her
research has appeared in scholarly journals including the Journal
of Marketing, Journal of Consumer Policy, and Journal of Public
Policy and Marketing. She has
served as the past chairperson of
the board of directors for the
American Marketing Association
and served on the Advisory Council to the U.S. Census Bureau. Debra will serve as an ex-officio board
member.
HFF closes $35.35 million sale
of and secures $25.51 million
financing for Class A office building
HFF recently closed the $35.35
million sale of and secured $25.51
million acquisition financing for a
Umpqua Bank has
sale lined up, but
EVA maintains it can
sell planes for more
By COLIN STAUB
Pamplin Media Group
COURTESY: HFF
BDC Advisors recently bought the
office building at 2100 Southwest
River Parkway. The deal was
brokered by HFF.
96,250-square-foot, mid-rise office
building located at 2100 Southwest
River Parkway in Portland’s Central Business District.
The seller is Clarion Partners,
and the buyer is BDC Advisors,
who purchased the property free
and clear of debt. HFF also secured a seven-year, fixed-rate acquisition loan on behalf of the new
owner through a regional bank.
The property is located in the
south end of the Portland CBD on
the Willamette River adjacent to
the southernmost part of Waterfront Park and less than a mile
southeast of downtown. The
eight-story, Class A office building
was completed in 1995 and is 100
percent leased to two tenants.
The property is half a block from
the nearest light rail station and is
easily accessible via other transit
options including the Portland
Street Car and Trimet bus lines.
Sleighbells swansong: Is the
business closing for the winter
or for good?
It looks like Sleighbells, the
iconic gift shop and Christmas
tree farm in Sherwood, has closed
for the winter with speculation it
could be closed for a longer period
of time.
A post on Sleighbells’ Facebook
page, posted on Feb. 11 reads:
“Dear friends and loyal customers,
it is time to say good bye. We want
to thank you for supporting
Sleighbells all these years. It has
been a pleasure serving you and
being part of your Christmas traditions all these years.”
Evergreen Vintage Aircraft
is contesting Umpqua Bank’s
request to allow a potential
sale of airplanes in the Evergreen Air Museum to move forward.
In a U.S. Bankruptcy Court of
the District of Oregon hearing on
Feb. 11, EVA attorney Nicholas
Henderson expressed the company’s desire to continue working
on a sale that would net a larger
sum than what creditor Umpqua
Bank has proposed to sell the
planes to Erickson Aviation.
“We’re still in discussions with
one potential buyer that was willing to pay enough so that (EVA)
might yield as much as $25 million, primarily to Umpqua and
some to World Fuel Services,”
Henderson said.
When Judge Randall Dunn
noted that the $25 million would
seem to be a better deal than the
$11.8 million Umpqua Bank has
plans to sell the planes for, Henderson agreed but acknowledged
there would be some “moving
parts” to the deal, including a potential return of aircraft to EVA
that has already been transferred out of its ownership.
“We would be looking to settle
a fraudulent transfer claim,” he
said.
Dunn also asked whether
there is evidence that EVA’s proposed buyer, who was not named
during the hearing, has readily
available funds. Henderson replied that he had not verified the
The post goes on to say, “The
owner has decided to close the
store. We do not know if he plans
to open it later in the year or close
it all together. We are taking down
the website and shortly our Facebook page.”
The store held a small party for
funds, but that his understanding
was that funding should not be a
problem.
“That’s vitally important: the
bank has to know that if they’re
going to give up a bird in the
hand, the bird in the bush is just
as good. It’s real money we’re
looking for,” Dunn said, adding
that if the postponement is allowed there will likely have to be
a “drop dead date” included, by
which if EVA has not completed
the sale there will be consequences.
Besides Erickson Aviation, the
Collings Foundation is the only
other organization that has made
an offer to purchase the planes.
The foundation, based in Boston,
offered $12 million for the planes,
an offer which foundation president Bob Collings said was rejected due to the terms of the
deal: the foundation would have
put 20 percent down, with the remainder to be paid within 30
days. Collings said the foundation
remains interested in helping the
museum stay afloat.
Umpqua Bank attorney Joseph
Sakay reiterated the bank’s position of requesting the $11.8 million sale to Erickson Aviation be
allowed to take place.
“We’d like to proceed with this
sale: we think it’s the real sale,”
he said.
When asked about the museum property, which Umpqua
Bank also has a secured claim
on, and whether Umpqua Bank’s
beliefs about the value of that
property were different than
EVA’s, Sakay replied that they
were.
“Substantially different, your
honor,” he said, “magnitudes different.”
The final evidentiary hearing
on Umpqua Bank’s motion requesting the sale to Erickson Aviation be allowed to proceed is
tentatively scheduled for April 3.
Rob Vastine, Sleighbells’ general
manager for almost 15 years, on
Feb. 10.
However, in an email sent Feb.
18, Vastine said the business is
closed for the winter but will reopen this summer.
Sleighbells first started in 1978
when the farm’s first Christmas
trees were planted. The gift store,
which was designed as a home for
special needs children, opened in
1985.
Sleighbells was originally
founded by Tom and Betty (last
name is not immediately known),
who ran it until 1999. It was reopened by the current owners,
Ken and Darleen McCoy in 2000.
The store was one of the first to
carry Christopher Radko products, which feature unique hand
blown Christmas ornaments. Many area residents also traveled to
the farm every year to purchase a
Christmas tree.
TouchPoint Networks invited to
attend TAG convention
TouchPoint Networks, a leading provider of unified communications, announced today that
Gary Gonzalez, the company’s
President, will be attending
Technology Assurance Group’s
(TAG) 15th annual convention.
The event will take place on
April 19-22 in Savannah, Georgia
at the Hyatt Regency.
TAG is an international association of independently owned unified communications companies
representing nearly $350M in
products and services in the industry.
The purpose of the convention
is to bring together the brightest
leaders and most progressive
thinkers in the technology industry to share best business practices and mutually contribute towards one another’s growth.
The overarching goal is to unveil
and share practices that make each
company deliver a better customer
experience from start to finish.
The event is invite-only and is
reserved for elite organizations
with a track record of innovation,
customer-centric business philosophy and a desire to serve their local community.
Each business represented is a
pioneer in their respective marketplaces and the discussions will
range from emerging technologies
to new business practices to advancements in customer experience.
“This event is always packed
with new ideas that keep us at the
forefront of new developments in
our rapidly advancing field,” stated Gonzalez. “We find it very valuable to collaborate with other
CEOs, Owners and high-performers to identify new ways of doing
things.”
BUSINESS TRIBUNE 15
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