Sunlight Supply’s new owners making moves in Vancouver

Sunlight Supply Inc.’s new owners could soon arrive in Vancouver with supplies of their own.

Hawthorne Gardening Co., a subsidiary of lawn care giant Scotts Miracle-Gro, is pursuing a lease at a 125,000-square-foot building owned by the Port of Vancouver, where it says it would employ 50 people to make plastic containers and air filters.

It’s unclear how many of those 50 jobs would be new hires or relocated workers from other facilities. Representatives for Scotts could not be reached for comment.

Scotts absorbed horticulture supplies company Sunlight Supply early this month for $450 million and folded it into the Hawthorne brand. The acquisition is among the most expensive in Clark County history.

The Port of Vancouver board of commissioners will vote on the lease Tuesday. The lease would last five years, costing Hawthorne just north of $3 million total, and give the company options to extend the lease for up to six more years.

Hawthorne would be the first tenant at the Centennial Industrial Building, at 3300 N.W. 32nd Ave. The port spent nearly $10 million developing the building on spec, and it opened in March.

“It’s exactly what we hoped for in a facility like this,” said port spokeswoman Abbi Russell.

Hawthorne would be landing a new facility within a stone’s throw of the former Sunlight Supply headquarters.

Representatives for Scotts told The Columbian in May they planned to bring more jobs to Clark County.

Sunlight Supply’s owners, meanwhile, are still involved in a lawsuit with a former worker who claims the company improperly laid off more than 100 workers last fall.