Economic development is not for the timid.
Russell Investments’ decision to relocate was a product of many factors, some within our control, some not. The package our community crafted provided an outstanding choice for the firm, but our focus is now on the future and those companies and individuals that make the choice to invest and thrive here.
From day one, our team – the Tacoma Partnership – made it clear that this effort was about more than one company. While Russell would have benefited from the initiatives the partnership put together, those initiatives will remain in place and evolve in ways designed to help current and future Tacoma companies.
Those efforts include (but are not limited to):
• Street and other infrastructure improvements to make downtown Tacoma more accessible (through light rail and parking enhancements), more attractive (through streetscaping), and more environmentally sustainable (through the cleanup of the Sauro site and stormwater improvements).
• Tax incentives, including changes to the City of Tacoma’s local-option business and occupations tax, and a change to the states’s tax on the construction of headquarters buildings in Tacoma.
• Investments in the local work force, including initiatives with the University of Washington Tacoma and our other higher education partners, as well as the development of a fund focused on business education.
Russell’s announced departure is anything but a death blow to Tacoma. The city has too many other assets.
It is home to hundreds of companies that will continue to be the bedrock of the local economy.
All told, more than 40,000 people work in downtown Tacoma every day at great firms like DaVita, Columbia Bank, Rainier Pacific Bank, MultiCare, Franciscan, Topia Ventures, Sagem Morpho, Brown & Haley, True Blue, and other businesses large and small.
Tacoma is the downtown of the South Sound. It will remain the crossroads of a region with more than 1 million people. We have a world-class port; world-class health care; world-class recreation with Point Defiance, Commencement Bay and Mount Rainier; world-class education with the UWT, the University of Puget Sound, Pacific Lutheran University and our community and technical colleges; world-class art museums and the soon-to-be-built LeMay car museum, plus world-class living with condos and homes for all income levels.
The work of the last several years and Russell’s recent announcement have created an opportunity for Tacoma by freeing up attractive office space downtown.
In recent years, we have seen interest in Tacoma from numerous companies. We had to turn them away due to lack of premier office space – and because of the uncertainty generated by Russell’s pending decision.
Downtown Tacoma remains an outstanding place to do business and we look forward to the transactions ahead. If anything, the effort to keep Russell created momentum for the development of other outstanding sites.
The Economic Development Board for Tacoma-Pierce County and the City of Tacoma have continued to work to grow existing companies and bring new ones to our area. Currently, the EDB is actually working more than 20 recruitment cases. Moreover, the EDB works with more than 200 local companies each year to help them grow and stay here in Pierce County.
We have a downtown and a county-wide economic development strategy and will continue to implement both with vigor.
Talented people are ultimately any region’s most valuable economic asset.
Seventy-four percent of Russell’s employees live in the South Sound. These are gifted, valuable people who have invested their personal and professional lives in this community. Many will continue to do so going forward.
Over the years, a number of companies have been started by Russell alums in and around Tacoma. We enjoy working with these highly competitive firms – and any new ones that may emerge – and look forward to continued collaboration with each.
Bruce Kendall is president and CEO of the Economic Development Board for Tacoma-Pierce County. Ryan Petty is director of the City of Tacoma’s Community and Economic Development Department.
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