The local branch of UL is preparing to move from its longtime Camas location to an east Vancouver building. The move will take place in the first quarter of 2019.
The company, formerly known as Underwriters Laboratories, is a consumer electronics testing, evaluation and certification service with dozens of offices and testing labs worldwide. The 114,800-square-foot Camas office and laboratory opened in 1994. The company previously had a smaller engineering services office in the Portland area.
“UL has enjoyed being a member of the community of Camas, WA and has for some time had a larger facility capacity than what our regional clients require,” said UL Communications Director Michelle Press in an emailed statement. “UL remains committed to clients served from Camas, and we will provide the same quality service to local clients as we do today, just from a new location.”
The move, which was first reported in the Camas-Washougal Post-Record, will see the company downsize into an existing office building at 14301 S.E. First St. in Vancouver, just north of Mill Plain Boulevard. The relocation has been in the works for at least two years.
“At some point we realized that the facility we have here (in Camas) is more than we needed,” said Marc Mouser, engineering manager at the Camas office. “It just made more sense to move.”
Most of the UL office’s employees live in Vancouver or Camas, Mouser said, so the company wanted to stay in Southwest Washington. During the search for a new location, it quickly became clear that Vancouver offered the greatest number of options. The First Street site was chosen due to its location and because it met the needs of the office, Mouser said.
The Camas office is comprised of engineering, lab, customer service, sales and administrative functions, and all of those functions are expected to continue at the new location, although Press said the company plans to put a greater emphasis on testing, particularly for its consumer heating and lighting divisions.
The new 49,503-square-foot facility will be leased, and is currently undergoing renovations to change the internal layout allowing it to be used for UL services, particularly with the addition of lab space.
The new building is directly east of the RS Medical headquarters, and the two buildings appear to be part of the same complex; a recent application for improvements to the RS Medical building referred to its neighbor as “RS Medical Building 2,” and both buildings are owned by the same company, according to Clark County records.
All or nearly all of the 234 employees at the Camas UL branch are expected to make the transition, Mouser said. UL isn’t worried about outgrowing its new offices, he added — the company’s local services and number of employees are expected to remain consistent in the coming years.
The company will also maintain its involvement with the Camas community, Mouser said, including its participation in a cleanup program for a portion of Highway 14 in Camas and its involvement in efforts to clean up Lacamas Lake.
The current UL Camas facility at 2600 N.W. Lake Road is company-owned property and will be put on the market after the move is completed, Press said. Camas City Manager Pete Capell said he didn’t think the company would have a hard time finding potential buyers for the property.
“I think there is a lot of interest,” he said. “It’s a nice spacious building and a really nice campus, so I’d guess it would get picked up and rehabilitated into something else.”
Editor’s note: This story have been updated to reflect UL’s for-profit status. The organization operated as a nonprofit until 2012.
