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Marce Edwards is the business editor. She has been at The News Tribune for seven years and has written about technology and big businesses in the South Sound including Weyerhaeuser and Russell. Before moving to Tacoma, she worked at The Idaho Statesman in Boise. She is a Northwest native who likes to garden and refuses to use an umbrella. She lives in Tacoma with her husband and two kids.
C.R. Roberts is a Tacoma native. Before joining The News Tribune, he worked as a freelance writer and part-time cowhand on a cattle ranch in Northern Idaho. He writes about small business, personal finance and other business issues.
John Gillie writes about the aerospace and airline industries, commercial development and consumer issues. During his 30-year-tenure at The News Tribune he has covered issues as diverse as the Native American fishing rights disputes, crime and the courts, the wood products industry and energy. He lived in Tacoma with his family for 25 years, but now lives in Kent because his wife heads a five-state non-profit foundation headquartered in Ballard, and it only seemed a sensible compromise to make considering their workplaces are 40 miles apart.
Kelly Kearsley has been a business reporter at The News Tribune since 2005. She covers the Port of Tacoma and international trade. Being born and raised in Spokane she’s used to living in cities with inferiority complexes and, in fact, prefers it. Prior to working at The News Tribune, she spent three years as a reporter for The Bulletin in Bend, Oregon and another year working stints for The Associated Press and Seattle Times. She graduated from Pacific Lutheran University. She lives in Tacoma with her husband and miniature schnauzer.
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During DaVita's initial search for new office space two years ago, the company examined 30 different sites in the Puget Sound Region and found no viable spots in downtown Tacoma.
Company vice president and controller Jim Hilger shared that detail among others Friday during the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber's City Center Luncheon at the Pacific Grill Events Center. He was among several presenters during the luncheon, which was themed "Experience Life Locally."
Hilger, who grew up and lives in Tacoma, used his time to explain how and why the Denver-based DaVita made its decision to keep its largest business offices downtown.
The company started with three criteria for choosing new office space:
• How it would affect existing employees and what the availability of new employees would be, given the company's projected growth during the next ten years. This included assessments of public transportation, parking, and flexibility to grow and shrink as needed.
• Whether shareholders would agree that the space was fiscally prudent.
• Whether the space was a good fit for the company's culture.
After the initial site search turned up 30 properties where the company could consolidate its workers, the company narrowed its choices down to two: a business park in Puyallup and building a new tower next to the the former Schoenfeld Furniture Building at South 15th Street and Pacific Avenue, in "the pit." That's the site of the former Sauro's Cleaners.
The City of Tacoma bought that site from the heirs of the cleaners' owner and is cleaning up pollution beneath the site to make the plot ready for development.
"We could look out from our offices at that time and it's a big gravel pit, with a few barrels of toxic waste sitting there. It wasn't very encouraging," Hilger said.
The Economic Development Board, the city of Tacoma and Rep. Norm Dicks got involved. Hilger said that by the end of 2008, the company was focused on building a tower. Then the economic crisis hit, drying up credit.
"Trying to convince DaVita corporate to pay cash for a new building" was a tough sell, Hilger said. "Just in the nick of time," space opened up in the Columbia Bank Tower when "another large employer" – Russell Investments – moved out of there.
Hilger said that during this time, the challenge was to negotiate new leases and keep a lid on the whole process.
"Which meant we were being obtuse and opaque and all the other things you have to be to protect our interests," he said. "I think we're seeing that with another employer in town." That remark and its reference to Russell Investments was met with knowing laughter from those in the room.
At the end of his remarks, Hilger was asked whether anyone at DaVita has spoken to people at Russell about staying in Tacoma.
"I have a lot of friends there," Hilger said, "but having been through this process, I know it's typically two to three people that really know what's going on and they keep it close – and spend a lot of time trying to confuse everyone."
