A Vancouver-based manufacturer is remodeling the shuttered Madill Corp. building at the Port of Kalama and will bring an estimated 200 jobs to the area, port of Kalama officials say.

Somarakis Inc. is remodeling the shop building east of the United Harvest grain terminal on Hendrickson Road.

The company is looking to expand its Vancouver operation, according to the port. Somarakis manufactures and repairs vacuum pumps and compressors at that facility, according to the company’s Web site.

John Somarakis, company president, did not return multiple messages last week. The port had no information on when the Kalama facility would open.

Somarakis, which opened in 1985, bought the building May 21 for $3.2 million, according to Cowlitz County land records.

Port officials had asked Somarakis this spring about buying part of the building to lease to other tenants, according to the July Port of Kalama commission meeting minutes.

When they learned that Somarakis was bringing up to 200 jobs, they withdrew the offer, port spokeswoman Mindi Linquist said.

“We were all about making sure there were jobs,” she said.

Somarakis had looked to expand in Clark County before choosing the Kalama site, said Ted Sprague, president of the Cowlitz Economic Development Council.

The county has lost 400 manufacturing jobs over the past year, so any new manufacturer coming to the area is good news, Sprague said.

“We’re thrilled that they chose to buy the building.”

The property has been vacant since the Nanaimo, B.C.-based Madill was declared bankrupt in a Canadian court in April of 2008. Madill, a major West Coast supplier of logging equipment, had operated its Kalama branch since the late 1970s.