North Coast Electric Co. moves corporate offices to new building in SODO
NOVEMBER 2005
SEATTLE, WA –North Coast Electric Co. announces the move of their corporate offices to Seattle’s SODO district. The move of the formerly Bellevue, WA based company to SODO will be a return to their roots; North Coast Electric originally opened their doors in 1913 at 2nd & Jackson St. in the Pioneer Square area of Seattle.
The move to SODO is part of an increasing trend of companies moving to lower rent districts and having their offices closer to their customer base. Mike Miller, Vice-President of Sales & Marketing remarks that the move to SODO “is sending us back to our roots….we are an electrical distributor, an industrial based company, we belong in the center of our market.”
North Coast Electric’s new corporate headquarters sits above Alexander Lighting, their new lighting showroom, and is part of the same building as their Seattle Service Center; in a building that they have owned since 1977. The company will be leaving their 11,000 sq ft office space in downtown Bellevue, and moving into a comparable sized office. Designed by Olympic & Associates, the building has already won acclaim by Northwest Construction Magazine for “Outstanding Tenant Improvement Project”. The building, with an elevator tower that illuminates the SODO skyline, is an added landmark to the ever changing look of the SODO business district.
The Alexander Lighting showroom, which officially opened on June 2nd, is a newer venture for North Coast Electric. Alexander Lighting, was acquired in April 2004, moved from a small facility under the Ballard Bridge to a 10,000 square foot premier lighting showroom targeted at home builders, architects, interior designers and home owners. “The SODO area is ideal for wholesale home furnishing showrooms, as it is located in between the Seattle Design Center and downtown Seattle where the design community resides,” said John Carver, North Coast Electric Puget Sound Group Manager.
The move to SODO will create 85,000 square feet of mixed-use distribution, retail and office space all under one roof and owned, occupied and operated by the same company.