Federal Wayans saying goodbye to Weyerhaeuser

About 400 employees said goodbye to the Weyerhaeuser corporate headquarters last Friday

About 400 Weyerhaeuser employees said goodbye to the Federal Way Weyerhaeuser corporate headquarters last Friday, readying themselves to say hello on Monday to their new Seattle offices.

It was the first “wave” to make the move to the new headquarters, located at 220 Occidental Ave. in Seattle, longtime Weyerhaeuser employee Bruce Honda said.

“The last wave leaves Sept. 15 and the legacy of the Weyerhaeuser corporate headquarters in Federal Way fades into history,” he said, noting a small contingent of scientists and engineers, including himself, will continue to work at the Weyerhaeuser Technology Center running the research labs and providing technical support to the Wood Products Manufacturing facilities.

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“Even though my office and lab is at the Weyerhaeuser Technology Center, I often met and worked with associates at corporate headquarters. One of the first sights I remember when I moved from Hawaii to Federal Way in 1971 was Mt. Rainier and the Weyerhaeuser corporate headquarters building on a bright August day.”

Honda said he remembers the little things: getting his first passport photo at Corporate Photo, helping Corporate Law with technology issues and graduating from his leadership classes with a celebration on the fifth floor of the building. But he also recalled the big: Honda helped open the Weyerhaeuser Technology Center after he was hired in 1978. He celebrated the 20-year club’s annual gatherings in the cafeteria and was on duty in the corporate headquarters “war room” during the 1999 Y2K scare.

“Many of my Weyerhaeuser friends and associates, both active and retired, still live in Federal Way and help make the fabric we call home,” Honda said. “It is sad to see corporate headquarters move to Seattle, but I understand what led us to this point.”

Honda said “painful decisions” that were made to survive led to the recent downturn. Many forest product companies didn’t make it, but Weyerhaeuser did.

“The legacy of Weyerhaeuser lives on and echoes in the trees and place we once called home,” he said of the corporate headquarters. “This is hard for many who now may have an hour to commute via public transportation where it may have been a five-minute drive from west campus to corporate headquarters.”

According to Honda, only 60 parking spaces were given to those willing to pay more than $300 a month for the space.

Honda said several employees have chosen to retire because of the move while others have quit and changed jobs.

Bob Wroblewski, a former Weyerhaeuser employee who retired in 2006, said Weyerhaeuser was a great company to work for and he’s disappointed to see the exit of a company at which he spent almost 20 years.

“It’s a loss,” Wroblewski said. “I understand why I think Weyerhaeuser did it it’s a smaller company, and the campus is designed for a much bigger organization. But it’s a loss for the Federal Way community.”

Wroblewski worked in the human resources department and did some work on Weyerhaeuser’s downsize during his last five years with the company.

“I think we were quite successful in doing that; I think we did it the right way,” he said. “Mostly Weyerhaeuser sold businesses, so not a lot of people lost jobs. We minimized that.”

Wroblewski was most proud of the business’s support of local organizations. He described the company as one that was community-conscious, respectful of the law, and “worked hard to do the right things environmentally.”

“We got ahead of the curve in terms of pollution, and we did a lot of good work in that regard,” he added.

The environmental aspect is at the forefront of Wroblewski’s mind as he thinks about the future for the former corporate headquarters property.

When it was only the corporate headquarters building and the research center, the property was “all woods.” Then a few more buildings went in and World Vision was built, but that didn’t affect it much, he said.

“It’s good for Federal Way that land is developed and we bring in companies, it’s good for jobs, property taxes,” he said. “But I would like to see it done in a way that preserves the look and feel of that property.”

Harry Folster, a 31-year Weyerhaeuser veteran who retired in 2008, thinks it’s a “tragedy” to see the direction the property appears to be going in.

“It’s a beautiful piece of land great buildings, great history,” Folster said. “It could be turned into something that could be a jewel for the city of Federal Way.”

Folster had many different roles during his time at the company, but he mainly worked at the technology center on energy, environmental, process simulation and new product development.

Folster was a professor before he joined Weyerhaeuser and was convinced to switch jobs after a former student persuaded him.

“I took a look and loved it,” he said. “That’s where I stayed.”

Folster worked on experimental fiber, specifically developing a bacterial cellulose, and he did a lot of work with products that would prevent the cellulose wood fibers from losing their structure.

“We did world-class work, and I think being part of that, being able to contribute to it, gave me a feeling of satisfaction,” he said, noting that he stayed with the company 10 years past the normal retirement age.

Weyerhaeuser officials announced in August 2014 that they would move their headquarters to Seattle, citing the too-large 430-acre campus and a lack of talent in Federal Way as the main reasons for that decision.

Earlier this year, Industrial Realty Group purchased the land for $70.5 million. The Weyerhaeuser Technology Center will stay at the site under a lease with Industrial Realty Group for an unknown amount of time.

Weyerhaeuser came to the area in 1971 and was annexed into the city of Federal Way in 1994. According to the company’s website, Weyerhaeuser “began over 100 years ago with 900,000 acres of timberland and three employees in a small office in Tacoma.”