20 Mar Nike receives approval to build 160-foot buildings on its campus
Nike wants to build up.
The sportswear giant on Tuesday received approval from the Washington County Board of Commissioners to build as many as four buildings 160-feet tall on its campus near Beaverton.
The Nike campus, including the Jenkins woods, spans 250 acres, said Julia Brim-Edwards, senior director of global strategy and operations at Nike. The company wants to build new office buildings in the northeastern part of its campus. The buildings will have tall ceilings to allow for a lot of natural light and will be energy-efficient, Brim-Edwards said.
The county basically divided the Nike campus into two subareas with different building height requirements: the northeastern corner of the campus, spanning 33 acres, can have as many as four buildings that are up to 160 feet tall. In the rest of the campus, buildings can go as high as 110 feet.
After discussing the ordinance, Washington County commissioners took turns telling Brim-Edwards that Nike is a great asset to the county. Brim-Edwards, in return, praised the day-to-day working relationship between the company and the county, which she said contributed to Nike’s decision to expand at its current headquarters instead of relocating.
Also at the Tuesday meeting:
–Commissioners directed county staff to prepare an ordinance that would impose a one-year ban on medical marijuana dispensaries. The ban would largely apply to unincorporated areas in the county.
–Commissioners also extended a 20 percent discount on a tax on new development that brings in about $16 million a year.
–Washington County Auditor John Hutzler briefed the board on an audit on executive expenses. The audit revealed, among others, that former county chairman Tom Brian had spent $43,000 on travel over two years. Hutzler advised the board to make its executive expenses public in the future instead of requiring time-consuming audits.
Clarification: Last year, Nike submitted an application for two buildings, but has meanwhile adjusted its overall campus design, so that application is no longer in effect. An earlier version of this post stated otherwise.
— Simina Mistreanu