Alex Paul
Last week’s announcement that Lowe’s Home Improvement plans to build a 1.5 to 2.2 million square foot distribution center in Lebanon, is good news for Sweet Home, several area economic development experts say.
The project, expected to begin a two-year construction phase in September, will employ 350 workers and from 400 to 700 when the center is fully operational. Jobs will pay between $15 and $20 per hour, plus benefits.
Annual payroll is expected to be between $15 and $17 million.
That income will surely benefit Sweet Home, said Keith Miller, of the Linn County Business Development Center.
“This is great, very good,” Miller said. “Both Lebanon and Sweet Home have proven they are serious about attracting industries such as this by supporting bond measures to enhance their educational structures. That’s saying those communities are good, safe places for kids to go to school and that’s important when industries are concerned about employees and the labor force.”
Miller added that Lebanon and Linn county showed vision when Highway 34 was upgraded, making it four lanes to Interstate 5. The distribution center will be just 10 minutes from I-5.
“Former Lebanon Mayor Bob Smith, who died recently, was instrumental in working with the county to make Hwy. 34 four lanes,” Miller said.
Miller said many persons and agencies have worked for several years to make the 204 acre site ready for this type of project.
Numerous area businesses and contractors could be employed during the construction phase of the project, Miller added.
Lebanon City Administrator John Hitt said Lowe’s was impressed not only with the available property, but with the labor pool in the immediate area.
“They talked with a variety of companies about such things as absenteeism and work ethic,” he said. “We scored very highly and they think highly of the Linn county workforce.”
Another key factor in selecting the Lebanon site is that it had already been certified by the Oregon Economic and Community Development Department as an “opportunity site.”
Oregon is one of three states including New York and Pennsylvania, that have developed a program to ensure prospective businesses that requirements are met and that construction can begin within 180 days or less, explained Marty Brantley, OECDD director.
Brantley added, “Since a project of the magnitude proposed by Lowe’s can typically require months or years to become ‘project ready’, completing the process in advance saves a prospective company millions of dollars and months of lost production time.”
Certification notebooks maintained by OECDD contain documentation about water, sewer, electricity and other utilities available at the site; local workforce availability; easements and liens; improvements made and state or local incentives that are offered for the location.
The OECDD says that to earn the “certified” stamp, a team of OECDD development officers collaborate extensively with landowners, local governments, regional development groups and the state’s seven economic revitalization agencies. A third-party, private sector verifier serves as final, independent review for the documents submitted to the agency in just one application for certification.
The OECDD has more than 150 certification applications underway and plans to certify 35-45 sites by June 2005.