Published August 2004

Business Briefs

Canadian forest products firm
eyes Crown Pacific mills
International Forest Products Ltd. has agreed to buy three lumber mills, including one in Marysville that employs about 40 workers, from bankrupt Crown Pacific Partners LP.

The Canadian forest products company, also known as Interfor, agreed to pay $57.3 million and provide another $16 million in working capital.

The transaction is subject to approval from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court and other regulatory agencies. A hearing will be held in August, and another party could offer a superior bid for the mills at that time.

“It’s not a done deal yet,” said Interfor spokesman Steve Crombie.

Crown Pacific of Portland, Ore., filed for Chapter 11 reorganization in June 2003 after trying to restructure its increasing debt. At the end of last year, the company, which also has mills in Port Angeles and Central Oregon, reported liabilities totaling $547 million.

Crombie said Interfor intends to buy timber from areas close to the three mills in order to keep the operations going. At this point, he said, there are no plans to import raw logs from Canada to the U.S. mills.

Cascade Bank opens
Snohomish branch
Everett-based Cascade Bank opened a branch in Snohomish on June 30, bringing its total of full-service offices to 16 in the Puget Sound region.

The new branch, located in the new Kla Ha Ya Village Shopping Center, at 1101 Ave. D, Building B, is headed by Vice President and Branch Manager Kate Maloney, the bank said.

She is supported by a team of three: Judy Pritzkau, assistant vice president and assistant manager; Jenifer Schwartz, senior financial services representative; and Gail Ferrera, financial services representative.

Grand-opening celebrations were scheduled to run from July 1 through Aug. 31, with offerings of a special rate on 18-month CDs and a free first order of checks for visitors opening a checking account, the bank said.

Cascade Bank, a subsidiary of Cascade Financial Corp., now operates offices in Snohomish, Everett, Lynnwood, Marysville, Mukilteo, Smokey Point, Issaquah, Clearview, Woodinville, Lake Stevens and Bellevue. Issaquah Bank operates as a division of Cascade Bank and has two offices in North Bend and Issaquah.

Berlex to build $60 million
drug manufacturing plant
Berlex Laboratories plans to build a $60 million drug manufacturing plant in the Opus Northpointe Corporate Campus near Lynnwood, with hopes to break ground this year.

Berlex, the U.S. affiliate of Schering AG Germany, is buying 16 acres, allowing for a 90,000-square-foot building and room for expansion. The new plant, the first large-scale biotech factory in the state, is expected to create 70 new jobs and may eventually employ a total of 180 people, said David Carlson, a Berlex vice president.

The new plant, to be located just north of 164th Street SW, will produce Leukine, which is approved to treat cancer patients and is being tested as a treatment for Crohn’s disease.

Developed by Seattle-based Immunex, Leukine was Immunex’s first approved drug in March 1991. The drug was sold in 2002 to Schering for $380 million because Immunex’s buyer, Amgen Corp., already marketed a competing drug.

Since then, Berlex has employed more than 200 people to make the drug in Seattle and support the program from that location and an office in Bothell’s Canyon Park area. A majority of the employees here still are Immunex alums.

Phantoms By Design
receives federal grant
Bothell-based Phantoms By Design recently received a federal grant under the Small Business Technology Transfer program to develop technology for the research and treatment of heart and vascular disease, according to the office of U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee.

The company, a developer of tools and training devices for cardiovascular doctors, researchers and pharmaceutical companies, secured a National Institutes of Health Phase I grant worth $147,458.

Aculight secures
$850,000 in contracts
Aculight Corp., a developer of laser technology, has secured two new contracts worth $850,000 under the Small Business Innovation Research program, U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee announced in late June.

The Bothell-based company won a Phase II contract from the Department of Energy for $750,000 and a Phase I contract from the National Institute of Health in the amount of $100,000, Inslee said.

“Our pulsed fiber laser technology will provide the DOE with a compact, rugged and efficient short pulse laser source that can operate over a wide repetition rate range for use in active imaging and remote sensing systems,” said Andrew Brown, Aculight’s director of business development.

In addition to the DOE contract, Aculight was awarded an NIH Phase I contract for the development of a compact, efficient ultraviolet laser source for use in Raman Spectroscopy, a technique for detection and identification of chemical and biological species.

Rehabilitation, physical therapy clinic
offers new treatment
WorkAble Solutions, a Mountlake Terrace-based work injury rehabilitation and physical therapy clinic, has joined a national network of providers of the ASTYM System, a rehabilitation technique in the treatment of repetitive stress and strain injuries.

Terry Moon, an occupational therapist with WorkAble Solutions has undergone training and testing to achieve certification in the system, according to the clinic, adding that physician referral is required.

For more information, call 425-775-7274 or go online to www.wrk-able.com.

Everett Events Center ranks high
in worldwide venues listing
The Everett Events Center was ranked second in the world for venues with a capacity of 5,001-10,000 in the July issue of trade magazine Venues Today.

The ranking, based on the time period of Nov. 15, 2003, through May 15, 2004, was based on total gross ticket sales, while also highlighting important numbers such as attendance and number of shows.

For that period, the Everett Events Center, with seating capacity of 10,000, had 26 shows with an attendance of 81,453 and total gross of $3.3 million. The next nearest venue with the same seating capacity was the SECC in Glasgow, Scotland, which came in fourth, with five shows, an attendance of 41,167 and gross revenues of $2.5 million.

The No. 1 venue was Radio City Music Hall in New York City, which has a seating capacity of 5,901, had 13 shows, an attendance of 77,147 and gross revenues of $5.3 million.

“We are extremely pleased to be one of the top venues in our category,” said Global Spectrum’s Kim Bedier, general manager for the Everett Events Center. “Nine months ago, when we opened, I knew we were poised for great things, and I am excited that this happened so quickly.”

Everett Pad & Paper’s
parent company sold
A Tennessee-based office products firm has purchased the owner of Everett Pad & Paper Co. and will continue its operations, officials said in July.

Guy Brown Products of Brentwood, Tenn., confirmed it had purchased the Everett company along with DiversaFile of Arlington, Texas. Everett Pad & Paper, which converts paper into office, school and art products, became a division of DiversaFile in 2001.

Terms of the transaction between the privately held companies and their owners were not released.

Under Guy Brown’s ownership, the two companies have been renamed DiversaFile Everett. Bob King, who joined Everett Pad & Paper about five years ago, has been retained as president of the division.

The Everett manufacturing plant on 36th Street will continue to operate, as will the Texas plant and a distribution center in Pennsylvania. All employees, including between 90 and 100 in Everett, have kept their jobs, Guy Brown executives said.

Mukilteo Family YMCA
breaks ground on skate park
The Mukilteo Family YMCA broke ground on a 19,000-square-foot skate park in July, with project completion scheduled for the fall, the nonprofit group said.

The Mukilteo Family YMCA has secured $300,000 from the city of Mukilteo and received corporate gifts from Coca-Cola, Pacific Ridge Homes, Allied Ice and The Everett Clinic, plus local individual gifts for the necessary funds to begin construction of the $700,000 skate park facility.

SITE Design Group of Tempe, Ariz., is the project architect. Grindline Skateparks Inc. of West Seattle has been chosen to build the skate park.

Volunteer labor will be used to construct the rest rooms and vending area as well as custom fabricated metal fencing around the park, according to the Mukilteo Family YMCA, which will own, operate and supervise the facility.

Skate park entrance will be included with all YMCA facility and youth memberships. A $1 entrance fee will be charged for nonmembers, per skating session. The park will be open to skateboards and rollerblades.

KeyCorp to acquire EverTrust
KeyCorp will pay $194.7 million to acquire EverTrust Financial Group, a deal that will make KeyCorp subsidiary KeyBank the fourth-largest bank in Snohomish County.

The agreement, which was signed June 24 and announced the following day, still must be approved by regulators and by EverTrust shareholders.

KeyBank’s district president, James Peoples, called the acquisition “a very, very important piece ... a great fill-in project for us.”

KeyBank has been trying to grow in the county, Peoples said. It has opened two new branches during the past two years, in Mukilteo and Marysville, for a total of eight branches.

According to the most recent figures from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., EverTrust was the county’s fourth-largest bank in 2003, with $493 million deposited in its branches around the county and an 8.1 percent market share. KeyBank had $143 million in county deposits, a 2.4 percent market share.

EverTrust agreed to the KeyBank offer because the two banks have similar philosophies and business lines, EverTrust chief executive Michael Hansen said, noting that both banks have expertise in commercial real estate lending, and both have strong private banking and asset management divisions.

Peoples said KeyBank has not decided whether to close any branches or lay off people because of the merger. If there are any layoffs, employees would have the option of transferring to other jobs within KeyCorp or receiving severance pay.

EverTrust has 160 employees.

Formed in 1916 in Everett as the Scandinavian-American Savings Association, the bank was known as Everett Mutual Bank until it changed its named to EverTrust Financial Group in January 2001.

NW Women’s Business Center
receives SBA funding
The Northwest Women’s Business Center in Everett was among 34 existing Women’s Business Centers in the country to receive matching grants from the U.S. Small Business Administration.

The WBC Program, administered by the SBA’s Office of Women’s Business Ownership, provides female entrepreneurs with the resources they need to start and grow a business. The 34 existing WBC sites will share $5.1 million in SBA funding.

Each site is required to match a portion of the federal funds with private contributions, and services are tailored to the community in which the WBC is located. The WBC program provides funding for an initial five-year term. The 34 centers are included in this part of the program.

The Northwest Business Center, a program of Seattle-based Community Capital Development, opened in Everett in July 2001 and serves six counties, including Snohomish, Kitsap, Skagit, Whatcom, Island and San Juan.

Boeing sells commercial electronics division
The Boeing Co. has sold its commercial electronics division, which includes about 160 people who work in Everett.

The company announced June 30 that BAE Systems North America had purchased the unit, which supplies electronic equipment used on Boeing airplanes.

Terms were not disclosed. The deal is expected to close within the next few months.

The unit is based in Irving, Texas, but the sale includes operations that employ about 200 people around Puget Sound, the majority of them in Everett, Boeing spokesman Bill Cogswell said.

Cogswell said the companies don’t expect any jobs will be lost as a result of the sale. Any Puget Sound worker who is not offered a job by BAE will be reassigned to a new job within Boeing, he said. BAE plans to retain all of the Texas work force.

BAE will become Boeing’s sole supplier for the systems after signing an eight-year contract. The work will continue to be done in the same buildings, Cogswell said.

Boeing had been seeking a buyer for the electronics unit for almost a year, as part of its efforts to shed its smaller divisions that build airplane parts in order to focus on large-scale work such as designing and assembling aircraft.

The deal also includes Boeing electronics service centers in London and Singapore.

Workforce Development Council,
WorkSource awards announced
During the annual awards dinner for the Snohomish County Workforce Development Council and WorkSource, a number of companies, organizations and individuals were honored, including:

• Providence Hospital Everett Medical Center and Stevens Healthcare, which won the Sen. Patty Murray Award for their financial and ethical commitment to develop skills and certifications in their workforce.
• Sun Healthcare Group, which received the Sen. Maria Cantwell Award for its support of lifelong learning for its workers.
• CombiMatrix Corp. in Mukilteo, which earned the Promising Practices Award for taking new approaches to solving education and training issues.
• Deborah Knutson, president of the Snohomish County Economic Development Council, who won the Bob Drewel Award for her commitment to making Snohomish County a great place to live and work.
• Kim Dotson of Providence Everett Medical Center, who received the Larry Hanson Award for her commitment to education investment.
• Project REACH, which provides job training for youth offenders, was given the youth employment award.
• Allan Dawkings and Carrie Watson, who received college scholarships to upgrade their skills.
• Michael Shone, who was named outstanding individual for his work that changed his life from being homeless and living in a van to holding down a welding job the past 10 months.
• Thuy Vo, Robert Kiebe, Ann Marie Shields, Rebecca Martinez, Leila Dempsey, Christina DeBarge, Simone Manley, Dirk Larimer and Angila Rimel, who were also recognized for accomplishments in WorkSource programs.

Verizon Foundation
awards literacy grants
The Verizon Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Verizon Communications, recently awarded $245,898 in literacy grants to 21 nonprofit organizations serving the Puget Sound region. Snohomish County organizations to benefit include:

The Boys and Girls Clubs of Snohomish County, $15,000 grant to help build technology centers at the Lake Stevens and Snohomish clubs; the Foundation for Educational Achievement, $15,000 grant to support the IDEAS Summer Camp in engineering and science for eighth- and ninth-grade students in Snohomish County; and the Friends of Arlington Library, in cooperation with Sno-Isle Regional Library System in Marysville, $3,000 grant to support the library system’s summer reading program.

Also, Housing Hope, $10,000 grant to purchase computers and peripherals for the College of Hope computer lab; the Mukilteo Schools Foundation, $9,500 grant to build a multi-cultural and primary-language library for the district’s English language learners; and Powerful Partners of Lynnwood, $9,900 grant to train and place tutors in member schools within Verizon service areas.

Also, Sea-Mar Community Health Centers, $3,000 grant for their Reach Out and Read program, which promotes early literacy by making books and reading standard for pediatric care; the South Snohomish County Chamber of Commerce Foundation, $9,999 grant to develop a Web site; and Volunteers of America Western Washington, $6,000 grant to take the Words Travel literacy program to inmates at Monroe Reformatory.

Bank of Washington plans
to open Redmond branch
The Bank of Washington recently purchased the former Redmond branch office of Pacific Northwest Bank, with plans to open its fifth branch there, bank officials said.

“We are pleased to have acquired this excellent site in downtown Redmond,” said Gary Schmitt, president of the Lynnwood-based bank. He noted that the bank is now in the process of filing for a branch charter for the site.

Following regulatory approval, the bank will open its Redmond branch later this year, he said.

The bank currently operates offices in Edmonds, Mukilteo, Lynnwood and Kirkland.

SBA withdraws proposed change
in determining business size
The U.S. Small Business Administration recently withdrew proposed rules that would have changed the standards by which a business is designated “small” for the purposes of government programs, the agency reported.

“All new rules have a 60-day comment period. Because we knew this issue was so important to America’s small-business owners, we actually extended that period to 105 days,” said Allegra McCullough, SBA associate deputy administrator for government contracting. “During that time, we strongly encouraged our small-business customers to contact us with their thoughts on the revisions. They did just that, and what they told us was, ‘good intention, good idea, but needs a little more work.’”

Under the proposed rules, a business’ size, in most instances, would be determined by the number of employees; and the different size categories would be reduced from 37 to 10, according to the SBA.

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