Vestas seeks new headquarters
Portland Business Journal
Wind turbine manufacturer Vestas Wind Systems A/S said Monday it would consolidate its Portland-based North American headquarters into a new 500,000-square-foot building.
While Vestas is based in Denmark, it has made Portland the home of Vestas Americas, its North American subsidiary, since 2002. But its headquarters presence here has been spread out across several facilities, including a regional information technology center, a tools warehouse and the Vestas Business Academy training facility.
Under a new plan, it will consolidate all of the business units within a 500,000-square-foot building in Portland. That's roughly half the size of the U.S. Bancorp Tower, commonly referred to as Big Pink.
The company declined to identify possible sites, saying negotiations are in process. In a news release, the company said it is working with the state and the city “to leverage development, tax and financing options.”
The company hopes to break ground next summer, with plans to move into the new building in the last quarter of 2011, said Roby Roberts, Vestas’ senior vice president for external relations.
Vestas Americas employs 1,000 across the United States and Canada, including more than 300 in Portland. Roberts said Vestas expects those numbers to grow in Portland, though to an undetermined degree.
“We’re not going to speculate on job numbers right now,” Roberts said. “We believe that the growth trajectory for the U.S. and Canada is going to require a vigorous ramping up.”
Jens Søby, president of Vestas Americas, said in a news release that Portland “has a lot to offer.”
“It provides access to a highly qualified workforce in a renewable-energy focused environment, and allows us to be close to a number of our North American customers also based in Portland,” he said.
The news generated praise from elected officials, including Gov. Ted Kulongoski, Mayor Tom Potter and Mayor-elect Sam Adams.
“The decision by Vestas to expand in Oregon is an incredibly exciting opportunity for us. We look forward to working closely with them to ensure their long term success in the wind energy market,” Kulongoski said in the Vestas news release.
It’s reassuring news for the public officials, who have seen Vestas pass Oregon by in other recent growth opportunities.
In June Vestas announced it would open a major research center in Houston, despite efforts by Kulongoski to lure the center to Oregon.
A month later, Vestas said it will build two manufacturing plants that will employ 1,400 workers in Colorado. Those facilities will be a complement to the Vestas blade-making plant in Windsor, Colo., that opened earlier this year — its first manufacturing facility in North America.
Also Monday, the company said it would place another research and development hub in Boston. The site will develop generators, converters and control technologies for next-generation wind turbines in conjunction with the Vestas technology centers in Houston, Asia, India and Europe.
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