The newly constructed Southeast 10th Street and East Cook Avenue are among improvements made to the South Hermiston Industrial Park.

Hermiston’s SHIP is a lot like the Millennium Falcon from Star Wars — it might not look like much right now, but it’s got it where it counts.

That was the gist Wednesday, Feb. 16, from Hermiston Assistant City Manager Mark Morgan, who said the expansion of the South Hermiston Industrial Park will mean a great deal to Hermiston.

The $2 million expansion extended paved road, water and sewer lines and upgraded electrical power to the site west of Highway 395 near the Walmart Distribution Center, making the park shovel-ready. Parcels range from 1.5-20 acres, depending on market demand.

Morgan said this is the kind of development businesses are looking for when they consider moving to Hermiston. They want ground, lots of it, he said. Sometimes, they even want land for their suppliers to locate — and this land should include infrastructure.

“As a healthy economic region, we want to make sure that we can accommodate large-scale industrial development as well as smaller stuff,” he said, and SHIP sets the stage for such accommodation.

Early success

The city is holding a grand opening of the expansion complete with ribbon cutting March 4 at 12:15 p.m. at Cook Avenue off Southeast 10th Street.

Though the SHIP expansion started with a groundbreaking July 7, 2021, planning for the project took place in 2017 and work began in 2018.

Morgan pulled out a map of the area and described the planning. He said the city had taken notice of development in the area.

“Nothing gangbusters,” Morgan said of the area, historically. “But it was starting to fill up.”

The city, then, was looking for ways to accommodate small light industrial-type operations in the future, he said. Paving Southeast 10th Street and bringing in utilities creates access to the parcels within the area.

SHIP already shows signs of success, beginning with Meyer Distributing.

The distribution company purchased 40 acres on SHIP. Its warehouse, which recently began operations with around 70 employees, takes up about a third of the total Meyer property, Morgan said. Meyer plans to expand in the future, eventually making full use of the property.

Additionally, A-1 Industrial Hose and Supply is building a 30,000-square foot building at the park.

“They’re a good, local, small light industrial business that has just been expanding and expanding and expanding,” Morgan said. “They don’t need 40 acres, but they just need a couple of acres at a time. This was kind of tailor made for an operation like that.”

Creating employment diversity

Morgan said he envisions a future in which several more businesses like A-1 set up shop at the industrial park and help create a diverse employment base.

“We don’t necessary just want to have a parcel that’s 200 acres that can accommodate one really large development,” he said. “This helps accommodate the machine shops, the electricians, the plumbers, those types of operations that need an acre for a laydown yard and equipment.”

The city’s interest in a diverse set of employers is due to a hard lesson, Morgan said.

The closure of Hermiston Foods in 2017 resulted in the loss of about 200 permanent, full-time jobs. At the same time, Union Pacific scaled down some of its machine shop operations. Though Morgan said large employers are valued and are important, it is important for Hermiston to “not be beholden to one, single, large employer.”

Attracting business

Morgan agreed his situation with SHIP is something akin to the plot of the 1989 classic baseball movie “Field of Dreams.” In the film, a farmer builds a baseball field in the middle of his crop. A ghostly voice tells the character that if he creates the ball field, people will come.

Likewise, the city has placed infrastructure and is looking for businesses to fill the space.

Sometimes, he said, communication with interested businesses is frustrating. Companies learn of the area and express interest, he said. Then, they sometimes ask to see the city’s top vacant buildings. When he tells them there are not any vacant buildings, they lose their excitement for Hermiston.

He said the best the city can offer now is space with electricity, roads and plumbing. SHIP gives businesses area for development. Morgan called this “economic gardening.”

“Even though there isn’t an existing building ready for somebody to come in, the ground is ready for someone to come in,” he said. “They can throw up a building pretty darned quick.”

Morgan said SHIP is something that will bring in new developments over years.