Boise Cascade once employed 400 people making white businesspaper at its Vancouver waterfront plant. That operation ended in1996 with more than 300 workers losing jobs. Now the sprawling siteis home to a Boise paper converting business with 70 workers.
Last week Boise said it would spin off its timber-paper business.That has Vancouver officials and others wondering if the companywould sell its 34-acre property, west of Interstate 5. The citywants the choice site revitalized much as Columbia Shores developedover the past 15 years on the old FMC industrial site east of I-5.
If Boise were to sell the site with its quarter-mile ofriverfront, what would the price tag be? Roughly $21 per square footor about $20 million, say experts. That figure does not includedemolition and site cleanup costs.
Nearing the goal
Bill Woodard, general manager of The Club at the Historic Reservein Vancouver, says club membership has reached 224.
The private business-oriented club operates at the Grant House onOfficers Row, also home to a public restaurant. Woodard describedmembership sales as 'going well' and within reach of a goal of 300.
New Battle Ground property
Mike Achen may have sold his 199th Street business park propertyin Battle Ground, but he still has plans in the area. Achen haspurchased 35 acres on what will become Rasmussen Boulevard forfuture commercial and residential development.
The property is north of Gardner Center where construction of amovie theater-retail complex is getting started. Plans call forextending Rasmussen eastward from state Highway 503. The roadworkshould start next year.
Sea Mar looks ahead
Sea Mar Community Health Center, 407 N.E. 87th Ave., is buying anew larger building in the Garrison Square area where it expects torelocate by year's end. The current building is tagged fordemolition as part of Southwest Washington Medical Center'sexpansion. Rick Sanders, Sea Mar director, said he hopes to solicitVancouver businesses for help with the move.
Hasson enters market
The Hasson Co. of Lake Oswego, Ore., one of the lastindependently owned residential real estate firms in the Portland-Vancouver area, is aggressively moving into the competitive ClarkCounty market. The firm has opened an office in the RiverstoneBuilding on 192nd Avenue in east Vancouver with seven agents. Planscall for staff to grow to 40 in two to three years.
Hooters still trying
The Hooters sports bar chain has apparently not given up onbringing a restaurant to Clark County. The company is rumored to belooking in the area around Westfield Shoppingtown Vancouver.
Julia Anderson is The Columbian's business editor. She can bereached at 360-759-8071 or julia.anderson@columbian.com.
