Talking Business: Port of Kalama builds on success
Monday, August 27, 2007 6:59 AM PDT
By Evan Caldwell, columnist
Printable version
E-mail this articlePort of Kalama officials hope to lure a big company with its newest spec building that will be its largest yet to date.
The port's planned industrial building will be 40,000 square feet of warehouse space and 5,200 square feet of office space. The port's previous four speculative buildings (or spec buildings) were 30,000 to 35,000 square feet. Construction of these buildings typically takes about a year.
"We have people that are starting to look for a little bigger space," Port of Kalama commissioner Jim Lucas said. "We haven't got anyone on the line for this new building but this is what people are looking for."
South Carolina-based Billhorn Board & Paper started paper-converting operations in a neighboring spec building at the port's Kalama River Industrial Park in January and leased all the warehouse space in the port's most recently finished building in May. About 2,200 square feet of office space is still available to lease in that building.
So far this decade, the port has used its proximity to Interstate 5, access to rail lines and the spec buildings to attract small- and mid-sized companies.
"We hope the interest in these buildings continues, but we don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves," Lucas said. "We'd like to see a type of industry there that would compliment other industries there with clean, high-paying jobs. We take a close look at each proposal and look at their operation. We have turned people down before."
The new building could be leased to a single company or multiple tenants.
Backstage Cafe opens at Kelso theatre
Kelso Theatre Pub owners Mike and Dawn Julian opened their new restaurant last month.
The Backstage Cafe offers pizza, sandwiches, pasta, salads, coffee, wines, beers and desserts inside the remodeled eatery at the corner of South Pacific Avenue and Vine Street in Kelso.
"People have stopped by just wanting to sit and eat the pizza, so we felt it was time to expand," Dawn Julian said. The space neighboring the Theatre Pub was formerly leased to the Kelso Cafe.
Julian said they also hope to capitalize on increased foot traffic likely to follow WorkSource and other government agencies that will move into a new building across the street later this year.
The cafe added four employees, totalling 11 for the theatre and restaurant operations, Julian said.
The eatery is open 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday to Thursday, 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday and 4 to 9 p.m. Sunday. The number is 414-9451 and the Web site is www.ktpub.com/.
Web design firm moves studio
omOriginals has moved their design studio into a new space at 705 Vandercook Way in Longview.
The studio is located next to Country Village Nutrition Shop and Office Max. omOriginals is owned by the husband and wife team of Oscar and Michelle Myre and offers Web site creation, Web hosting, graphic design and marketing.
The number is 575-9839 and their Web site is www.omoriginals.com/.
If you know about a business opening, closing or going through major changes, contact reporter Evan Caldwell . He can be reached at evan.caldwell@tdn.com. or Talking Business, The Daily News, P.O. Box 189, Longview, WA 98632.
Past Month's Most Commented Stories