Port of Woodland
The Port of Woodland recently signed an agreement with local company Columbia Precast for the sale of property to expand its facility. The expansion to the concrete production facility is expected to create 35 additional jobs. The purchase is the first at the new Centennial Industrial Park with the purchase of two of the eight available lots.
“The ability to assist Columbia Precast Products to be more successful in the smart certified cement production facility in their successful expansion is a win for Woodland,” Commission President Paul Cline said in a news release. “Our new business plan adopted earlier this year of offering a variety of options at our developing business parks exemplifies how the Port is meeting our mission of creating more family wage jobs and sustain and retain the businesses already established in our community.”
Columbia Precast Products creates manholes, boxes and vaults. Moving to Woodland in 2015, the smart certified company has received the platinum certification level with its products meeting a sustainable bottom line and being good for the environment, the economy and global community.
Columbia Precast also recently provided the necessary support to the Port of Woodland for its recent Washington State Community Economic Revitalization Board (CERB) grant. The CERB request required support from the Cowlitz Economic Development Council (CEDC), another important business development partner of the Port. The Port’s $3.6 million request to the United States Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration grant is currently pending review.
“The business support by Columbia Precast provided the Port with the opportunity to seek additional funding from the state due to their commitment to develop at Centennial. The partnership is critical to our success to work with businesses that meet the Port’s mission and our environmentally sustainable and creating additional family wage jobs. This was all due in fact that we had to change the way the Port operated, and this shows we are moving in the right direction,” Executive Director Jennifer Wray-Keene said in the release.
In addition to Columbia Precast Products, there are several other prospective businesses looking at relocating to the site, most from outside the state.
“Job creation, business attraction and developing shovel-ready ground and lease-ready buildings are key factors to our community’s success for our citizens having job opportunities locally rather than commuting to Portland or further each day. It required the Port be aggressive with utilizing our vacant land in a better way, that works for great businesses like Columbia Precast, to be successful in Woodland,” Commissioner Bob Wile said in the release.
