Oregon's Economy

[downtownpdx]

Salesforce picks Hillsboro for big Oregon outpost

By Mike Rogoway, The Oregonian OregonLive.com
on February 25, 2013 at 2:10 PM, updated February 26, 2013 at 1:47 PM

Andrew Theen/Oregonian

http://www.oregonlive.com/silicon-forest...ce_picks_hillsboro_for.html#incart_river

Salesforce.com said this morning that its new Oregon offices will be in Hillsboro, choosing the suburbs over Portland for a major operational hub.
The rapidly growing San Francisco company went looking for an expansion site last year and picked Oregon over Salt Lake City. Salesforce said this morning that it also considered Denver and Austin.

Portland is the nexus of Oregon's software economy, with a hive of busy startups clustered around the Pearl District and downtown. Still, Salesforce's decision to pick Hillsboro was no surprise.

Public agency correspondence reviewed by The Oregonian last summer indicated that Salesforce strongly preferred Washington County, though Portland made a pitch to bring the company to the city -- and former Mayor Sam Adams attended at least one of the company's recruiting events in the Pearl District.

Salesforce vice president Monika Fahlbusch said this morning that the company chose a 100,000-square-foot site in Hillsboro -- in an office built 13 years ago for design software company Synopsys -- because it can be customized to meet Salesforce's needs, and because the building has enough space to accommodate growth...

...Oregon provided Salesforce a $1.45 million subsidy to lure it to the state...
Salesforce promised to employ at least 205 and pay them an average wage of at least $67,000 annually in exchange for the grant, 150 percent of the Oregon average.

[RED_PDXer]

Originally Posted by downtownpdx

Salesforce picks Hillsboro for big Oregon outpost

By Mike Rogoway, The Oregonian OregonLive.com
on February 25, 2013 at 2:10 PM, updated February 26, 2013 at 1:47 PM

Andrew Theen/Oregonian

http://www.oregonlive.com/silicon-forest...ce_picks_hillsboro_for.html#incart_river

ugh.. is this really the case? new businesses have a hard time locating in downtown Portland? what's wrong here..

[downtownpdx]

I know, it's disappointing it can't work in DT. But honestly if they are planning on expanding rapidly then I don't mind if that means they set up shop 20 mins west. We're getting high-paying jobs at way above the average local wage so I'm not too disappointed in the location .... but DT would be so nice. Maybe if places like PAW were actually rising we'd be having a different discussion. There's obviously some demand.
And I really hope some of these homegrown software complanies that are doubling their workforces this year, like Janrain, find the space to stay in DT/ Pearl District.

the company chose a 100,000-square-foot site in Hillsboro -- in an office built 13 years ago for design software company Synopsys -- because it can be customized to meet Salesforce's needs, and because the building has enough space to accommodate growth...

[cab]

Its probably more the rent prices. All along 26 in Washington county a bunch of overbuilding took place. Deep rental cuts I'm sure with the amount of empty office space. Downtown right now is pretty tight, with large spaces being a bit difficult to come by with premium rental costs. The problem is no one is building anything new DT.

[downtownpdx]

Very true ^^ I just hope the tight DT market translates into new construction sometime soon. Sad to see large employers skip over DT and head to the burbs because of a lack of new space, even when demand is there.

[downtownpdx]

Wells Fargo Home Mortgage hiring 90 new underwriters, expanding office in Portland

By Brent Hunsberger, The Oregonian The Oregonian
on March 05, 2013 at 11:15 AM, updated March 05, 2013 at 12:46 PM

Elliot Njus/The Oregonian

Wells Fargo & Co. said it plans to hire 90 underwriters in Portland to meet increasing demand for home loans.

Wells Fargo Home Mortgage plans to move its home loan operations office in Clackamas, where 160 work, to a 50,000-square-foot building at Cascade Station near the Portland International Airport.

The new site will house 400 employees. In addition to the 90 new hires, some employees from other parts of the country are being transferred to Portland, spokesman Tom Unger said.

"We're seeing big increases" in loan volume, Unger said. "The low interest rate environment is a key factor. Also, we've seen a lot of competitors go out of business." ...

http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index...rgo_home_mortgage_hiri.html#incart_river

[davehogan]

Maybe this can keep some of the stupid posts from showing up on the Oregonian that claim Portland is a terrible place for businesses.

Obviously it won't, but it can't hurt to dream.

[downtownpdx]

Funding round has CEO promising hundreds of jobs

Robert Goldfield
Senior reporter-
Portland Business Journal
Email | Twitter | Google+

Looking for strategic guidance as well as financing, technology training startup Treehouse said Tuesday it closed a $7 million Series B funding round led by Kaplan Ventures.

While the deal has Treehouse CEO Ryan Carson talking about delivering hundreds of jobs to Portlanders ...

The company obtained its first $4.75 million funding round a year ago, when it said it was moving its headquarters to Portland from Orlando, Fla. Carson said that 10 employees now work out of his Northeast Portland house...

Carson said Treehouse’s employment numbers will rise dramatically with revenue, which now exceeds $5 million annually. He said he anticipates a Portland workforce of 400-500 in as soon as two years.

http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/blog/2013/04/funding-round-has-ceo-promising.html

[nevernude]

Oregon has overtaken Washington State in VC-funding for the first time in 20 years and the state is in the top ten for VC-funding.

http://www.geekwire.com/2013/vc-investments-tank-washington-state-overtaken-oregon/

[downtownpdx]

Oregon tech adding jobs, boosting wages and leading state back from the recession

By Mike Rogoway, The Oregonian
on September 05, 2013 at 10:41 PM, updated September 05, 2013 at 10:53 PM

http://www.oregonlive.com/silicon-forest...bs_leading_oregon_back.html#incart_river

Oregon's technology sector is racing ahead of the rest of the economy, leading the state's recovery by adding jobs faster and paying more than twice the state average.

Though tech accounts only for 1 in 20 Oregon jobs, it has provided 10 percent of all the state's job gains since the recession. That pace reflects a strengthening ecosystem across the Silicon Forest, where young companies have tapped into tech's hottest trends from mobile devices to social networking.
And while most Oregon wages have been stagnant for decades, tech salaries have soared, and now average about $94,000 a year. By comparison, the typical Oregonian takes home $44,300 a year ...

... Homegrown companies are springing up, too -- adding jobs with funding from venture capitalists. Urban Airship, Puppet Labs and Janrain each announced large venture rounds last winter and have now raised roughly $50 million apiece.

In just a few years, they've each gone from a handful of employees to well over 100 in their Portland offices.

...

[MarkDaMan]

Sep 10, 2013, 1:26pm PDT
Daimler to consolidate North American HQ in Portland
Matthew Kish
Staff reporter- Portland Business Journal

http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/news...date-north-american-hq.html?ana=e_ptl_bn

Daimler Trucks North America on Friday is expected to announce it's consolidating its North American headquarters in Portland, one of the biggest economic development wins in recent Oregon history.

The company, whose commitment to Portland has long been in doubt, has been in talks with economic development officials about building a new headquarters adjacent to its existing building on Swan Island in exchange for a basket of city and state incentives.

...

[PacificNW]

This is very good news for Portland and the region.....

[downtownpdx]

Very cool -- especially this part ...

The consolidation will likely include the creation of hundreds of new high-paying administrative jobs, the holy grail of economic development efforts, according to several sources.

[downtownpdx]

Moving trucks pile up in Portland

http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/blog...9/moving-trucks-pile-up-in-portland.html

Wendy Culverwell
Real Estate Daily editor-
Portland Business Journal

Remember those reports about how Portlanders are more likely to move to Seattle than vise versa?

It turns out there’s more to the story.

Portland is plenty popular, according to United Van Lines' annual tally of moving destinations.

Portland saw 42 percent more inbound moves than outbound during the peak summer moving season, placing it second in the nation for net migration.

Overall, Portland was the No. 7 most popular destination for movers and Seattle was No. 5.

St. Louis-based United credits the growing tech sector for the overall migration patterns, which show the Pacific Northwest and Northern California as the fastest-growing areas.

“The continued growing in the tech sector is drawing people to Northern California, but the high cost of living in Silicon Valley is causing tech companies and workers to migrate north to Seattle. Portland is also experiencing unprecedented growth attracting a range of millennials and retirees relocating for amenities such as public transit, green space, local arts and a vibrant urban culture,” said Michael Stoll, chair of the Department of Public Policy at the University of California, Los Angeles.

...

[360Rich]

Awesome news about Daimler!

Jeld-Wen Field being the site of press conference doesn't seem to have a natural tie to the announcement. Wonder if there's a naming rights change coming to JWF along with this?

Gov. John Kitzhaber and Portland Mayor Charlie Hales will join Daimler Trucks North America CEO Martin Daum at a 2:30 p.m. press conference Friday at Jeld-Wen Field.

[Tanaka07]

Originally Posted by MarkDaMan

Sep 10, 2013, 1:26pm PDT
Daimler to consolidate North American HQ in Portland
Matthew Kish
Staff reporter- Portland Business Journal

http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/news...date-north-american-hq.html?ana=e_ptl_bn

Now maybe Lufthansa can resume nonstop flights from PDX to Germany...Freightliner always bought tons of Business/First class tickets on the route. Now that there will be more of a corporate base in PDX, I see this as a real possibility.

[Eugenepdx]

Originally Posted by Tanaka07

Now maybe Lufthansa can resume nonstop flights from PDX to Germany...Freightliner always bought tons of Business/First class tickets on the route. Now that there will be more of a corporate base in PDX, I see this as a real possibility.

Lufthansa had a good run while they were here, but i honestly dont think that they'll be coming back anytime soon. With Delta doing PDX-AMS, the chances of having another European flight are kinda slim, but with the announcement of BA LHR-AUS on the 787, anything can happen.
I can see BA doing LHR-PDX within the next 2-3 years, i hope.

[davehogan]

From a Twitter via a KGW article:



That's an interesting building to add to Swan Island. It looks to be 9 floors?

[davehogan]

Here's a better article about Daimler from the O.

There's a better copy of the previous image as well, but it's really big and I don't want to screw up the formatting of this page.

[tworivers]

Wow, Austin to Heathrow? That's not fair.

Regarding the Daimler rendering, it led me to audibly exclaim "holy 🞵🞵🞵🞵". And the cost: 150 million. Too bad it's not on the Zidell land in South Waterfront!