August 27, 2014

Weyerhaeuser moving HQ to Pioneer Square

Image by Mithun [enlarge]

Weyerhaeuser Co. is moving its headquarters from Federal Way to Pioneer Square.

Weyerhaeuser said yesterday it will move into 200 Occidental, a seven-story being planned by Urban Visions for a site near Occidental Park. The building will have 165,000 square feet of office space.

Documents on file with the city say there will be parking for 68 vehicles in an undground garage.

The timber company will move in mid to late 2016, after 200 Occidental is complete.

A spokesman for Weyerhaeuser said the company will fill all the space in 200 Occidental and have 800 employees working there.

Mithun is designing 200 Occidental.

Greg Smith, founder and CEO of Urban Visions, did not return a phone call requesting comment.

Doyle R. Simons, president and CEO of Weyerhaeuser, said in a press release that the 430-acre campus in Federal Way is more space than Weyerhaeuser needs. Moving its headquarters to Seattle will help the company compete for talent now and in the future, Simons said.

Weyerhaeuser plans to sell the land and buildings it owns in Federal Way.

Heartland LLC represented Weyerhaeuser on the relocation, and will also work on selling the company's Federal Way space.

The campus contains approximately 750,000 square feet of office, research, and industrial space on more than 400 acres.

The Weyerhaeuser move is major win for Pioneer Square. The neighborhood has reinvented itself in recent years with trendy new restaurants and tech companies taking office space. The office vacancy rate is 11.09 percent, according to officespace.com.

Weyerhaeuser says it is one of the world's largest private owners of timberland and employs 13,000 people worldwide. It opened more than 110 years ago with an office in Tacoma.