Fisher Investments zeroes in on Camas site

Signs warn motorists of an upcoming curve on Southeast Bybee Road, near the 150-acre site for Fisher Investments’ planned office complex. (CAMI JONER/The Columbian)

About 200 Fisher Investments employees report to the company’s temporary satellite office in east Vancouver’s Columbia Tech Center development.

Kenneth L. Fisher, chairman, CEO and founder of Fisher Investments, poses for a portrait inside his Vancouver offices on Friday September 26, 2008. (The Columbian/Zachary Kaufman)

Ken Fisher CEO, Fisher Investments

Fisher Investments, which employs 200 people in temporary space in Vancouver and has said that it may move its California corporate headquarters here, expects to begin site work this month on a 150-acre office campus in Camas.

The $30 million project could be completed next year.

Founder and CEO Ken Fisher first established a toe-hold here in 2006. His goal was to move his company to a business-friendly community with better living conditions for his employees, many of whom could not afford to buy homes near the company's corporate headquarters.

With 1,000 employees, Fisher Investments is based near San Francisco and has offices in east Vancouver's Columbia Tech Center.

At one time, Fisher called California's business climate "the most hostile in the country" for its 9.3 percent state income tax and other corporate taxes.

Things have not changed, said Fisher, whose firm manages $30 billion in stocks and bonds. The company also oversees government pensions and finances for big companies, such as Boeing and Volvo.

His company is dealing with "the same kinds of issues we were concerned about before," Fisher said this week.

He expects construction on the 150-acre Camas site to begin with site work for roads and other infrastructure. Roads entering the campus are planned at three access points — two off its northern boundary on Southeast 20th Street and the other on its south side at Pacific Rim Boulevard.

"We will be doing wetlands remediation and road work (and) laying out the property," Fisher said.

Site plans call for two six-story buildings with an apron of about 2,000 parking stalls. Fisher does not expect crews to pour concrete and start building the structures until next year. One building may come out of the ground ahead of the other, said one person familiar with the project.

The campus could open by late 2010, but Fisher is realistic about the project's time line.

"Everything always takes longer than you think," said Fisher, a Forbes columnist and author of five books about money management.

Camas planners will hold a Tuesday conference with the project's Vancouver-based general contractor, Wubben Bros. Inc. After that, "they can start (site work) as soon as they wish," said Jim Carothers, engineering manager for the public works department.

Fisher would not say whether Camas will become the new headquarters for Fisher Investments. Sites in Florida and Texas were also considered.

Fisher offices are staffed by armies of account managers who monitor and manage the assets of high-net clients, which make up about two-thirds of the business. Employees earn between $75,000 and $200,000 annually, according to Fisher.

The search for a suitable corporate site even had him looking at the 174-acre Hewlett-Packard campus at one point, Fisher said. He passed up the HP site, which recently sold to high-tech firm, SEH America for $55 million.

Building his own office complex will give his company "exactly what we need," Fisher said.

In the meantime, Fisher's local presence has grown from 50 employees to more than 200 since it opened an east Vancouver satellite office in 2007.

Fisher Investments has not been immune to flagging markets and the nation's continuing economic recession. At its peak, the company managed about $48 billion and employed about 1,200 people in its offices in San Mateo, Calif., and at its Woodside, Calif., headquarters.