By Andrew Fickes, contributing writer

The Pierce County economy in 2017 will continue its robust trajectory, according to Bruce Kendall, president and CEO at the Economic Development Board for Tacoma-Pierce County. Key economic clusters in the Tacoma-Pierce County market that will be strong will be finance and banking, warehouse and distribution, industrial, brew pubs and distilleries, with cybersecurity an emerging sector. “Banks and credit unions are in growth mode,” Kendall says. “There has been some easing of banking regulations, so they could well expand in 2017. How big and how fast is in question.” Product has continued to move in and out of the region. Vacancy rates in distribution have been low, which Kendall says will prompt more spec development of distribution warehouse space in 2017 — most likely in Sumner, Puyallup, Fife, Frederickson and DuPont.

“Port of Tacoma and Port of Seattle (in a joint effort) has had a better year than last year,” Kendall says. “Demand for distribution space is very strong and that will continue to be strong.”One such example of this demand was the opening of a new 300,000-square-foot FedEx Ground warehouse facility in Fife in 2016. FedEx Ground added 300 jobs to the region. In the industrial market, two new international companies are building sites in Frederickson and Tacoma, and both will add new jobs to the region in 2017.

The first is Mitsui-Soko, a Japanese firm that broke ground last summer on a 12.7-acre site and will be part of the aerospace supply chain in Frederickson  READ MORE…

By Andrew Fickes, contributing writer