Starbucks To Build In Kent

KENT

Starbucks Coffee Co. intends to build a new coffee bean roasting and distribution plant here that will employ up to 125 workers when it opens in the fall.

Starbucks' announcement yesterday was greeted as good news by the city's business leaders who are waiting to see how layoffs at Boeing will affect the region's economic climate.

"It's an excellent company to have coming down to the valley," says Barbara Simpson, director of the Kent Chamber of Commerce.

For Starbucks, the $11 million plant represents growth that has exceeded the company's projections. The company had planned to accommodate its coffee bean roasting needs until the end of the decade in its only roasting facility on Airport Way South in Seattle.

But Starbucks' national strategy boosted sales in the first six months of its fiscal year by 70 percent and profits by 108 percent. In the six months, ending March 28, the company opened 39 stores.

At the end of this fiscal year, Starbucks plans to open a total of 85 retail stores.

The rapid growth has led to the need for another roasting and distribution plant.

At the new 300,000-square-foot plant, beans will be roasted for Starbucks' retail stores nationwide, and merchandised products such as mugs and coffee makers will be stored for shipment.

"This is a critical component to our ability to supply retail demand at our stores," said Howard Wollner, Starbucks vice president of administration. The current plant will continue to house corporate offices and roasting and distribution functions for mail order, wholesale and specialty sales to restaurants.

About 25 million pounds of coffee beans will be roasted and shipped yearly from the new plant, compared with 17 million pounds at the current plant. New jobs will be created, while some workers will be transferred from Seattle. Employment at the plant will increase during the winter.

Starbucks' plant is being built in Kent North Corporate Park, a new industrial park owned by a partnership including Trammell Crow Co., Winmar Co. and Heartland Group Inc.

Starbucks will be the first building in the 115-acre park. Trammell Crow, the Kent Valley's largest commercial real estate landlord, already has graded a large part of the property and will begin grading and filling the entire parcel next week. Trammel Crow expects to win building permits for the Starbucks plant next month, said Kirk Johnson, a managing director.

The speed with which Trammell Crow promised Starbucks it could deliver the building played a big role in Starbucks' site selection. Starbucks did a nationwide search for a site, but this deal was the only one to satisfy Starbucks' space and time needs.

The Kent site is close to freeways and ports, an important consideration. Most of Starbucks' roasted beans and products are trucked to retail stores. Starbucks also felt a strong commitment to continuing its next growth phase in the Pacific Northwest, says Wollner. The plant will be located west of 80th Avenue South, south of Southwest 43rd Street and north of South 188th Street. Foushee & Associates of Bellevue will be the contractor for the plant.