Quincy Blossoms

All eyes on Quincy as development blooms, booms and looms

Editor's note: The Columbia Basin Herald is proud to unveil Progress 2006. However, due to a computer glitch part of the cover story was removed. The complete story follows and can be viewed on our web site at www.columbiabasinherald.com.

QUINCY — Charlie Sepulveda, for about a year and a half, has been spending about $20 a day playing scratch tickets.

"Maybe not on the weekends, but like six days out of seven, I go in there and I buy $20 worth of tickets," said Sepulveda, a resident of Quincy since 1960, noting he slowly graduated from the $1 scratch tickets to the tickets costing $2, $3 and $5. "I say, 50 percent of the time, I win more than I spend."

The gamble really paid off this year on March 1, Sepulveda's birthday, when he scratched a $5 ticket and discovered he had won $100,000.

Naturally, Sepulveda didn't believe it at first.

"Being as how it was my birthday, I thought somebody was playing a joke on me, I really did," he said. "And then I thought, 'I just bought the ticket out of that machine right there, so who would know that I was coming in?'"

Sepulveda ran to the school where his wife of 42 years, Irma, works, stopping to show the ticket to a friend, the owners of the business and several other customers along the way.

When he arrived, Sepulveda's wife was busy administering testing to a class of students, so he showed the secretaries in the office the ticket.

"They looked at it, they couldn't believe it and then they started jumping up and down," Sepulveda remembered. "They got all happy, and they said, 'We'll go get Irma for you; we'll stay with the kids while she comes over.'"

When his wife arrived, Sepulveda teased her by saying he won $500, showing her the ticket, expecting she would see that he actually had won much more than that.

"She looked at it and said, 'You didn't win no $500, you liar! I don't have time for your jokes! I've got to go back to the classroom,'" Sepulveda said. "The two secretaries, they stopped her and said, 'Irma, Irma, wait a minute! Look at the ticket!'"

Irma looked at the ticket, looked at her husband, looked at the ticket, and then looked at her co-workers, finally understanding how much Sepulveda had won.

The entire trip — from Sepulveda scratching the ticket to finding his wife at school and getting her to believe him, including a run back to the classroom to show the ticket to the teacher Irma works with and the students — took about three hours.

When Sepulveda got home, there were 28 telephone messages on his answering machine.

"People calling to see if it was true, they had heard it," Sepulveda said. "'Is it true? I'm your buddy! I'm your lost uncle!' Everybody was just kind of having fun with it."

The very next day, Sepulveda and his wife went to Yakima and cashed in the ticket, receiving $75,000 after taxes.

An explosion in Quincy

In a way, Sepulveda's story could be a metaphor for what's going on throughout the Quincy community right now.

The city's scratch tickets (again, metaphorically speaking) paid off this year as Microsoft and Yahoo! Inc. both signed land-purchase sales agreements with the Port of Quincy, with the intent of locating data storage centers.

Microsoft finalized the deal in April, and has since begun construction on its land. Documents filed with the city show plans for as many as six buildings, totaling nearly 1.5 million square feet, that would house racks of computers to store data. The plans include an electrical substation, as well as a diesel-powered generator to provide backup power.

Yahoo! is expected to follow with its own official announcement, having filed its state-required environmental checklist in April and already helping out in the community, with a team of volunteers working on several projects at Quincy's historical Reiman-Simmons House in April. As stated in the checklist, the Yahoo! data center project includes the development of 10 computer rooms constructed in two phases over an approximately five-year period from 2007 to 2011. The data center complex would have a total area of approximately 310,000 square feet, be composed of two attached buildings and operate on a 46.3 acre site at 15769 Road 11 NW.

A third data center is also reportedly eyeing the Quincy area, amongst other projects. One, Grant County Economic Development Council executive director Terry Brewer said, approached the council at about the same time, in May 2005, looking for information. The project, code-named "Beta," is still moving forward.

Citing a Seattle Times article, Port of Quincy public affairs consultant Pat Boss said a race is under way by Internet companies to build more power, space, speed and data storage. Microsoft and Yahoo! are responding to development by Amazon.com last year, he said, noting the new evolution in Internet is speed, storage and security.

"These centers are going to be the wave of the future for a lot of these Internet providers," Boss said. "The ones that can provide the superior speed,

the superior e-mail service, the superior data storage, are going to be the ones that are going to most likely succeed in this new world of Internet storage that's going on. It's a very competitive field — the Googles, the Yahoo!s, the Microsofts and the Amazons are all pushing the envelope. Microsoft is taking the first big step to establish itself as a major player in data storage and Internet e-mail storage."

The companies joined development by longtime Basin-based company Columbia Colstor, which is building a new, expanded warehouse facility on Quincy port property, and further development of the port's intermodal industrial park, which is expected to begin shipping containers in June.

In addition to Microsoft construction, Yahoo! interest, Colstor construction, the intermodal and the development of the Sunserra condominiums and townhouses at Crescent Bar, "to top it all off, we have Gorge concerts that have been released," marveled Lisa Karstetter, executive director of the Quincy Valley Chamber of Commerce. "The hotels and RV parks are going to do great. I think the tourism around this area has really boomed with Cave B and Crescent Bar becoming destination places. That's really helped us too."

The chamber has been inundated with requests for information packets from construction companies, Microsoft and Yahoo! and the like. Part of the chamber's job is to help these construction companies make sure their employees have housing, and their medical care plans are covered with local doctors and dentists and working with local restaurants.

"Actually, 'overwhelmed' would be the word," Karstetter said. "I have sent more packets for relocation and construction in three weeks than I sent in the last year."

The dominoes begin to fall

Part of the Port of Quincy's mission is to improve and develop industrial employment. When the commissioners took their respective offices, Commissioner Curt Morris said, they began developing infrastructure. Their goal was to have two complete industrial parks available to companies interested in Quincy.

Other companies expressed interest in the property over the years, but nothing ever came out of it, Commissioner Patric Connelly said.

"We purchased that ground probably seven, eight years ago, with the purpose of developing it," Connelly said. "But just, the need wasn't there yet."

Representatives of Microsoft and Yahoo! talked with the Grant County Public Utility District, looking for places where "tappable" power was available, and the PUD recommended one of the sites in Quincy, Connelly said. When a representative called the port in 2005, they signed an agreement allowing him to market the port's industrial sites for the purpose of data servers.

"He didn't tell us who the company was; they were all represented by code names," Connelly recalled. When the PUD made a comment publicly about Yahoo! coming to the area, the port put two and two together. In the meantime, Microsoft signed its letter of intent.

"When you're dealing with either company … you would be excited and enthralled to bring something like that to your town," Connelly said. "It's not a fly-by-night outfit; it's a pretty solid company."

"At first you're kind of stunned to think that somebody from Microsoft would have an interest in Quincy," Port Commissioner Brian Kuest said. "But you get past the initial shock and you think, 'OK, if it does happen, the domino effect, what does it bring with it?' It brought Yahoo! into the picture."

Kuest said the port was told that of all the areas Microsoft was looking at, Quincy was the only one where all the boxes on their check list were checked.

"It's exciting," Connelly said. "To say that we had the foresight to see it wouldn't be that accurate, but to see the diversification, which is something we've always been trying to shoot for for town, you don't get a much cleaner industry than this."

Why Quincy?

Why not?

Ask any Quincy representative why the development is happening in Quincy now, and these answers typically surface: Affordable power rates. Accessibility to fiber optics. Central location. Competitively priced land. Infrastructure already in place.

"We had the zoning in place and the land to accommodate these companies," Quincy city administrator Tim Snead said, pointing out he thinks a lot of it also had to do with the PUD licensing getting through the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission process, enabling long-term contracts where the district can provide power at a reasonable rate, which was not possible prior to the FERC process.

"The inexpensive power had a lot to do with it, and our close proximity to NOA Net (Northwest Open Access Network)," Snead said. "I think these things were what really had Quincy stand out, along with Crescent Bar and Cave B."

Snead said some Microsoft employees already reside at the Crescent Bar resort community, which means they're already familiar with the area.

"As I go around through our association of cities, some of the electeds and administrators or city managers, a lot of them remember Quincy because of the flowers," he added, "and how well kept the city of Quincy is. The community spirit and the volunteerism with this community is just amazing. That's another fantastic strength we've got."

For Karstetter, everything was more dependent upon Microsoft's timing than Quincy's timing.

"I know that their site selection list is pretty extensive, and I think when you can match and fit most of the data, then where one goes, a lot follow," she said.

Some people have called Karstetter up in the wake of the news of Microsoft and the like, many asking her, "Why Quincy?"

Karstetter's response? Why not?

"What makes us any different? Should it be Seattle?" she asked. "We have cheap land here, we have community colleges 30 miles each side of us to train people for different things. We're very unique that way. We're right here in the middle of the state — people can go to Seattle in two hours, Spokane in two hours. So Grant County is a great place and Quincy is fantastic. I think that things are great for all of Grant County right now."

"The whole karma of Grant County has been raised to a level that people now are knowing where we're at, and it's an enjoyable place to come," Morris agreed.

'With growth comes growth pains'

The arrival of Microsoft and Yahoo! in Quincy leaves the town looking at its housing availability. Efforts are already under way to address the shortage.

"We don't have abundant housing or apartments," Karstetter said. "I think that's always been an issue and everyone has always known that, so now it's even a bigger issue, but those things are also being addressed."

Snead said the city is looking to update its comprehensive plan, which he considers very good timing, and considering expanding urban growth areas to meet the need for housing he believes the city will begin seeing.

"Quincy is ready," he said. "We have available water and available sewer capacity, so we are able to handle this kind of growth. Our municipal system's only around 50 percent capacity right now, so we're sitting fairly well. Of course, we're always looking for more water, and we'll continue to do that, but we can handle the growth right now, with the available water rights we've got."

"There's people coming out of the woodwork all of a sudden wanting to develop houses," Connelly said, noting that with today's prices, it's difficult for a town to build housing in the hopes that companies eventually come. Better to have the companies come first, and build housing after.

"We don't have a choice," Kuest said when asked if Quincy is ready. "Microsoft is here. When you look at the residential real estate development, the lots that have been sold, the developers that are in the area, yeah, we're going to be ready for it. We're probably going to have to grow into it, but do we have the resources available? Certainly."

"Just growing pains," Connelly agreed. "We just have to get acclimated to it."

Karstetter said Quincy is not prepared for all the development.

"I think we have the right people in the right places to make sure that we do," she said, extending kudos to the port commissioners and to Snead. "If anyone can get it done, we have the right people in the right places, and then we just need to really keep pushing for further development."

More housing leads to school issues, Karstetter said, adding that Quincy's schools are pretty full at the moment. Larger companies and bigger areas also need more policing, she pointed out.

"With growth comes growth pains," she said. "Are we ready? No. But am I worried? No, because I really do think we have the people that will make sure it gets done."

Morris said the port, the city and related entities have been very conscious about controlling growth in Quincy.

"We don't want to turn it into just a land grab," he said. "Expanding our growth management boundaries slowly is a good thing."

"I think we're as ready as any community could be," Quincy Mayor Dick Zimbelman said, adding that the city fathers have done a good job keeping infrastructure in line, even back in the 1950s. "Our growth management boundaries weren't too large; we didn't take on a whole bunch that we couldn't accommodate. With infrastructure being pretty much in place, it's not going to have as big an impact on us. Of course, rapid growth always has an impact."

Looking to the future

The arrival of Microsoft and Yahoo! have residents hoping that other companies will follow the giants to Quincy and its surrounding areas.

Boss anticipates that the companies will pull their workforce from the radius surrounding Quincy, pointing at cities like Moses Lake, Wenatchee, Yakima and Ellensburg as being places from which workers would make the commute.

"A lot of these people would probably end up moving to this area, but initially in order for (Microsoft) to get the workers they need, they're probably going to have to commute from a ways," Boss said. "There's clearly a workforce issue where they can cast that net around Quincy and really get a decent amount of workforce to draw from."

"It kind of puts us on the map for something else," Brewer said. "We're well known for food processing and for large industrial activities, and have been for some time identified as a location with reasonable land prices, a lot of available land, low-cost power, good labor force, but this is a new sector for us if you will."

One data storage center, Titan World Class Vaulting, has been located in Moses Lake for a while, Brewer said, but it hasn't put the area on the national radar screen. "I think that these two projects do that, and they're both going to be very large-scale projects," he said, adding that they will be great additions to the local tax base.

"The whole county's going to benefit from this," Kuest said. "It's not just Quincy. The Wenatchees, the Ephratas and Moses Lakes, I think they're going to get a couple spin-offs."

Kuest wouldn't be surprised if in the next couple years, the county's population grows by at least 1,000 people.

"You figure 300 jobs, and three people to a family, you're just about there," he said. "With a Microsoft and a Yahoo! there's other entities out there that are snooping to see what we have to offer. We've created some excitement out there in our infrastructure and certainly our community that people are interested."

The port's intermodal yard is expected to begin shipping containers in June, with dates pushed back due to equipment availability issues.

Kuest said the yard is trying to ensure enough containers for service on an ongoing basis without interruption.

"Actually, if you look at Quincy, our claim to fame was going to be the intermodal site," he said with a grin. "Well, we've got the intermodal, plus we've got the bonuses with Microsoft and Yahoo! That's taken a little of the emphasis away from the intermodal; we need to get back on that and make sure it becomes the operating entity it was designed for."

Morris sees the development as the end of a major chapter for soliciting companies to Quincy.

"Now that we have the visibility out there, now we're entering the next chapter, into further development and hopefully to pick up other companies that are suppliers to Microsoft and Yahoo! or just the fact that we have the fiber, the power and the living atmosphere in Grant County to pick up other companies that may have no connection at all to the high-tech industry," he said.

With Microsoft, Yahoo! and Columbia Colstor all building on port property, there's some land still available at the port, Kuest said, although the district is looking for more based on the interest in the area. The port also has to consider any land's zoning and where it fits in the county's growth management needs, he said.

The port is anticipating that Microsoft and Yahoo! will be bringing in a number of products from the western side of the state via containers, which the port could in turn re-load with Grant County output and ship back.

Snead said he would like to see the intermodal yard completed, expanding the railroad track to handle 100-car unit trains and eventually siting a distribution center which could employ up to 1,000 people.

"It's good that Quincy's diversifying their economy," he said. "This is still and always will be an ag-based community, but these other industries coming in kind of even the highs and low of the ag industry."

Karstetter echoes Snead's sentiments.

"I think that we're the community where agriculture is meeting technology," she said. "I think agriculture will always be our backbone here, but it's kind of nice to see how technology can also go hand in hand with it."

'A nice little town'

The money Charlie Sepulveda won with that birthday ticket is all gone, but he's still playing the scratch tickets, he says. His wife is also into buying tickets now, he said.

Prior to winning, Sepulveda had purchased a new pick-up truck he intended to be his "ultimate pick-up" in June, and had mortgaged his house for a loan to pay for a gastric bypass surgery in December that his insurance wasn't going to cover.

"I went and paid off my truck and I paid off that mortgage, so my house is clear now, my truck is clear," Sepulveda said. "The money's gone, we're sitting in real good shape, I got my operation and I've lost 72 pounds so far. So we've had a lot of fun with it, and we paid off some little bills and a couple of the big ones."

When Irma retires in June, she and Sepulveda plan to go casino hopping and maybe take a little trip to Texas, but plan to remain in Quincy.

"We were almost raised here," Sepulveda said. "Quincy's our home, so we're here to stay."

Sepulveda finds all the development coming into the Quincy area exciting, but admits he hopes his small town doesn't grow up too fast.

"This is a nice little town to live in, and hopefully it will stay that way," he said, adding, "But it will be nice to have the big businesses in town that will employ, hopefully, a lot of our locals. I think it's going to be a plus for this town, for everybody involved — the restaurants, the stores, the housing situation, the snowplowing business."

Sepulveda added that last one with a grin; he plans to maintain the winter snowplow service he's been operating since 1999, when he retired from his position as mechanical foreman with the Grant County Public Utility District.

"I enjoy doing that," he said of snowplowing. "I would probably do it for free if I had to."

In fact, he's hoping all the new businesses coming to town will provide a little shot in the arm for his own operation.

"Like Microsoft," he said. "They're going to have a lot of parking lot. Hopefully, I can get in on the ground floor with them."