Portland aluminum firm eyes Vancouver, Wash. Site

Portland aluminum firm eyes Vancouver, Wash. Site One of the nation's largest aluminum extrusion firms is considering moving more than 900 jobs from Portland, Ore., to a proposed facility at the Washington state Port of Vancouver.
   Documents filed with the Port of Vancouver last week regarding the development of the 57-acre site do not identify the firm by name. However, officials from Portland-based aluminum firm Sapa Profiles told to The Columbian that the port document description comes close to matching the firm, which employs about 800 people manufacturing bike frames and architectural extrusions.
   However, Sapa, a subsidiary of Norway-based conglomerate Sapa Group, did not directly confirm to the paper that it was the firm in question.
   The new Port of Vancouver aluminum extrusion facility, according to the port documents, is set to occupy two building totaling nearly 607,000 square feet.
   Seattle-based Sutherland Development LLC, which prepared the port-filed documents, has been trying to lure a manufacturing firm to the site for at least 18 months.
   According to the Sutherland documents, the facility would initially employ 500 manufacturing workers and 100 support workers, with a gradual build up of 300 additional manufacturing jobs. Sutherland, which is paying $5,000 a month to lease the farmland site from the port, has already paid tens of thousands in permitting fees to local city officials. Under an agreement with the port, the development firm has until May 26, 2009, to purchase the site outright from the port or sign an 80-year-lease.