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Sunlight Supply owner Craig Hargreaves, left, with port staff and commissioners at the company’s groundbreaking event on Jan. 6, 2016

Sunlight Supply Inc./National Garden Wholesale broke ground Jan. 6 on a new 306,000-square-foot facility at the Port of Vancouver USA.

The locally owned company, which manufactures and distributes gardening supplies, will build its world headquarters on 15.5 acres it purchased at the port’s Centennial Industrial Park (CIP) on Northwest Lower River Road. The facility will consolidate Sunlight’s operations and provide a mix of warehouse, office, manufacturing and greenhouse space.

Sunlight Supply has been a Port of Vancouver tenant since 2010, leasing about 90,000 square feet in one of the port’s existing buildings on Kotobuki Way. Like many growing companies in our region, Sunlight struggled to find space as it expanded. Its facility at the port was one of many from which it was operating in Southwest Washington.

Owner Craig Hargreaves, a Clark County native, wanted to stay in the community, but he needed a facility that met his company’s needs today and for the future. Enter the Port of Vancouver. With ready-to-build property and great access to transportation at our CIP, Sunlight found what it needed to stay close to home, expand operations and keep 265 people employed in our community.

Sunlight estimates it will invest $32.6 million to construct its world headquarters. This includes the property purchase, permitting, sales tax, construction costs and annual property tax. Operations are estimated to bring tens of millions of dollars in economic benefit to the region annually.

Construction is underway, with completion scheduled for 2017.

The Port of Vancouver is in the design and permitting phase for its own building at CIP. The Centennial Park Industrial Building, slated for construction this summer, could support a variety of manufacturing, office and warehouse needs.

About Centennial Industrial Park
Ideal for light industry, advanced manufacturing and supply chain support, the 108-acre Centennial Industrial Park features 40 ready-to-build acres and 50 adjacent acres for future development. CIP was made possible by $5.7 million grant from the Washington State Department of Commerce’s Jobs Now Act 2012, which allowed the Port of Vancouver to move forward with infrastructure improvements.