1999: A Year of Business Growth and Expansion

 

VoiceStream Wireless, Horizon Air Establish Call Centers in Bellingham

For businesses in Whatcom County, 1999 was a year of growth and change, led by VoiceStream Wireless and Horizon Air establishing telecommunications centers in Bellingham.

Both companies made announcements in the spring and were operating facilities by fall. Within three years, the companies may have a combined total of 650 employees in Bellingham.

You're looking at payrolls in the $16 million-plus range annually, as well as benefits,  said Fred Sexton, president of the Bellingham Whatcom Economic Development Council, after the announcements. “There''s a multiplier effect where up to 1,200 other jobs may be created in the grocery, entertainment, construction and other industries in order to support the influx of people. The recycling of money is another $20 million (injected) into the economy, bringing the total to $36 million or more. 

Horizon Air opened a reservation call center in Bellingham in July with plans to employ up to 200 people as reservations sales agents, supervisors and support personnel. The company, a subsidiary of Alaska Air Group, Inc., moved into the former House of Fabrics store at Cordata Place, 4167 Meridian St.

VoiceStream Wireless, a digital wireless telecommunications company, announced Bellingham would be the site of its second national operations center. The company renovated the former Smith's Home Furnishings store, a 51,000-square-foot at 340 W. Bakerview Road at the intersection of Cordata Parkway. The facility – designed to serve calls from customers 24 hours a day, 365 days a year – opened in September with about 100 employees and is projected to have 450 workers within three years.

Here are some of the county's other business highlights in 1999:

 

New and moving

Signs Plus/Tint Plus moved in January to a 7,000-square-foot location on North Forest Street in Bellingham.

Office Max, the nation's third-largest retailer of office products, opened a store at Bellingham's Sunset Square in February.

Andgar Corp., a sheet-metal fabrication business, signed a multi-year lease for 17,000 square feet of space in the Copac Warehouse/Industrial Center near Ferndale in the spring. Its corporate office remains in Lynden.

Goforth Business Center, owned by G&E Enterprises, opened a 21,000-square-foot office building and warehouse in Ferndale in May.

Olympic Health Management Systems announced plans to move in the summer of 2000 from Commercial Street to three floors of a new building in the Barkley District of Bellingham.

Les Schwab Tire Centers opened its 300th store in Ferndale in June.

Fairhaven Village Inn, a 22-room hotel constructed and owned by Ken and Brad Imus, opened in Fairhaven. Also, construction began on two more upscale hotels in Bellingham, the Harbor Lights Inn and the Chrysalis.

CompuCare, Inc. of Seattle opened a store in Bellingham's Meridian Village across from Bellis Fair mall in July.

The Port of Bellingham in July opened its International Trade Building, which includes 2,645 square feet of office space and 27,184 square feet of warehouse space.

Frontier Financial Corp. of Everett, the parent company of Frontier Bank, opened its 24th office in Bellingham in July.

Rite Aid moved its Northwest Avenue store in Bellingham to a 16,750-square-foot building across the street from its former location in August as part of the company's plan to move its stores out of shopping centers.

Brenthaven, a Bellingham manufacturer of backpacks and computer cases, moved its retail store to the corner of Commercial and Holly streets in August.

Wood Stone Corp. outgrew its facility in Sumas and leased 60,000 square feet of the former Whatcom County Sports Arena, located near the Bellingham International Airport, from the Port of Bellingham.

The Greenhouse retail home furnishings and housewares store signed a 10-year lease to expand its downtown Bellingham site from 7,800 square feet to nearly 20,000 square feet.

Village Lighting and Lamps moved to its new 11,500-square-foot building on State Street in October.

Western Washington University's Small Business Development Center opened a satellite office in Sumas.

Starbucks opened a second store in Bellingham's Sehome Village shopping center.

DeWaard & Bode began work on moving its Bellingham appliance store a short distance along Cornwall Avenue to a 14,000-square-foot building, nearly tripling its store size.

 

Mergers and acquisitions

Trillium Corp. subsidiary Semi-ahmoo Co. purchased the Inn at Semiahmoo in March, giving Trillium and its chairman, David Syre, complete control of Resort Semiahmoo.

Brown & Cole Stores of Bellingham purchased Ennen Food Stores, Inc. in March and changed the five Ennens Food and The Fair Market stores to Cost Cutter Food stores.

A&H Stores of Renton purchased Ferndale Drug from longtime owners Walt Jr. and Donna Pollman of Ferndale.

Charles and Sandy Cha purchased the 124-room Travelers Inn on Meridian St. in Bellingham.

Horizon Financial Corp. acquired the three Bank of Bellingham offices, which became branches of Horizon Bank in June.

Airporter Shuttle in Ferndale acquired Whatcom Tours.

Blockbuster, Inc. purchased 50 Videoland stores, including ones in Bellingham and Lynden, and converted them into Blockbuster Video outlets.

Saga Communications Inc. of Grosse Point Farms, Mich., purchased five Bellingham radio stations AM 1170 KGMI, KISM 92.9 FM, AM 930 KIXT, AM 1170 KPUG, and KAFE 104.3 FM and created Cascade Radio Group to operate the stations.

Bank of America acquired Seafirst Bank, including its eight Whatcom County branches, in September.

 

Business people recognized

James Talbot, owner of Bellingham Cold Storage and the Barkley Village shopping center in Bellingham, received the Lifetime Achievement Award. The honor was presented at
Business Pulse's Businessperson and Small Business of the Year Awards Banquet at the Inn at Semiahmoo in Blaine.

At the same banquet, Dean Shintaffer, owner of Sound Beverage Distributors, received the Busi-nessperson of the Year Award; Bakerview Nursery, Inc. and its owners, Larry and Toni Clark, was awarded the Small Business of the Year Award; and Pastazza, owned by Fred and Lynn Berman, was awarded the Start-up Business of the Year Award.

Pat Rose, owner of Rose Construction, Inc., was named 1999 Professional Woman of the Year by Whatcom Women in Business.

CPA Orphalee Smith of Bellingham was awarded the 1998-99 Woman of Achievement Award by the American Society of Woman Accountants' National Board.

Watercolor artist Jody Bergsma of Bellingham received two awards for book illustrations at the Book Expo in Los Angeles.

Tom Dorr, director of Western Washington University's Small Business Development Center, was named a 1999 Star Performer by the Association of Small Business Development Centers.

       

Business events

At the Small Business Conference hosted by the Small Business Development Center at WWU, Whatcom Community College and Business Pulse magazine, held with the 15th annual Whatcom County Business Expo in September, over 200 people attended the 25 seminars.

The 1999 Autumn Border Business Conference of the Bellingham/Whatcom Chamber of Commerce and Industry was held in October and had sessions devoted to transportation, growth management and tourism.

The 1999 Employment Expo in April provided opportunities for the 1,600 attendees to meet with 39 employers and attend a variety of seminars.

The Bellingham Chapter of the International Association of Administrative Professionals presented two seminars in April.