Toyota's $40-million redevelopment will unfold at Terminal 4 (pictured). Port of Portland officials consider the Toyota project the cornerstone in redeveloping the entire 280-acre (113.3-hectare) Terminal 4 marine facility.

PORTLAND, Ore. – As the fast-growing Industrial Asset Management Council (IAMC at www.IAMC.org) readies for its inaugural Professional Forum on Oct. 27-30 in Savannah, Ga., many conference attendees are rapidly growing their own companies with wide-ranging expansions. (For more projects, see "Insider People & Project News" in the new November Site Selection.)
        Among those expansions is Toyota's (www.toyota.com) US$40-million redevelopment of its 200-employee Portland, Ore., auto terminal - a project that illustrates the focus of the Forum's opening General Session, "Living, Working and Profiting with 'Process Green' - A Toyota Case Study."
        That session will feature Toyota Motor Sales USA National Real Estate Manager Sanford Smith, who will describe the Real Estate and Facilities Dept.'s central role in implementing the automaker's highly successful "Process Green" program. That program's success was underscored last year, when Toyota was one of only seven companies tapped to win a Green Power Leadership Award, presented by the U.S. Dept. of Energy and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Toyota's "Process Green" program, which will be a General Session focus at IAMC's upcoming Savannah Forum, helped the company become one of only seven companies tapped to win a Green Power Leadership Award, presented by the U.S. Dept. of Energy and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Portland Project Continues Environmental Proactivism

Toyota's new facility at the Port of Portland (www.portofportland.com) will continue the proactive environmental approach that Smith will profile in Savannah.
        The automaker's new operation at Terminal 4 will, for example, promote the health of of the Willamette River's waters. The redevelopment will install a system that directs storm-water runoff to either a set of bio-swale culverts, which naturally filter the water, or to a mechanical system that separates oil and solids from storm water before it is released into the river.
        The new facility will also include a number of other environmentally sound features. Among those features are 1,700 feet (518.2 meters) of restored riverbank for improved wildlife habitat, as well as directional yard lighting that will use one-third of the current system's energy while producing twice the output. In addition, the new lighting system will greatly reduce reflection into the windows of nearby homes.
        "Toyota is committed to being a model business for this community, and that commitment is demonstrated in the many attributes this project will bring, both economic and environmental," said Ron Corbin, Toyota's Portland logistics services manager.

Community Heavily Involved in Project Planning

Toyota's commitment to good corporate citizenship extended into heavily involving the North Portland community in project planning.

Only formally founded in July, Atlanta-based IAMC has already hit triple digits in its membership. Industry leaders are responding to the new associations's distinct real estate niche, which is sharply focused on executive-level managers in the industrial and manufacturing sectors who have corporate real estate and asset management responsibilities.

        "I applaud the Port and Toyota for bringing this project to our attention early in the planning process and for really listening to what we had to say," said Robin Plance, chair of the St. Johns Neighborhood Assn. "It's important for residents to have a voice in economic-vitality projects that are planned for their neighborhoods.
        "In our case," Plance added, "the Port and Toyota have helped redirect heavy truck traffic out of most residential sections of our neighborhood, which makes for safer, quieter streets." "We have a great working relationship with the Port and the surrounding neighborhoods," said Toyota's Corbin. "More than 40 percent of our work force lives in North Portland, where our logistics facility is located."

New Operation Will Cut Costs, Up Efficiencies

The redevelopment will also add considerable efficiencies and cost savings to Toyota's Port of Portland operations.
        Part of the redevelopment, for example, includes relocating the processing portion of the company's auto-handling business closer to where Toyota receives more than 160,000 autos a year by ship and rail. Currently, Toyota processes its new vehicles - inspecting, cleaning, fueling and accessorizing them - in a 67,000-sq.-ft. (6,224.3-sq.-m.), 26-year-old complex that's located on a hill above Terminal 4.
        Constructing a larger, high-efficiency processing operation adjacent to its automobile receiving area, company officials explained, will provide significant energy and productivity savings, as well as reducing the amount cars are driven prior to shipment to retailers.
        "When it's completed, we'll have a state-of-the-art facility that will enable us to operate more efficiently than we have in the past, and at a lower cost," said Corbin.

Toyota Will Build Six New Facilities

Toyota's entire Port of Portland redevelopment will entail designing and building six new buildings with a combined 97,600 sq. ft. (9,067 sq. m.) of interior space. The new facilities will include an office, an accessory installation center, wash and fueling stations, a guard house, and a body shop.
        Toyota will build those new facilities on 82 acres (33.2 hectares) that it is leasing from the Port of Portland. The automaker has signed a 15-year lease on the property, with two five-year options to renew. Annual lease costs will run around $1.4 million a year, according to the Port of Portland.
        Port officials consider Toyota's project the cornerstone of redeveloping the entire 280-acre (113.3-hectare) Terminal 4 marine facility, which opened in 1919.
        "Toyota's plan . . . for redevelopment of its terminal 4 facility is a strong commitment to the Portland community," said Port Executive Director Bill Wyatt. "This project demonstrates Toyota's strong commitment to keep its automobile distribution business in Portland, which directly employs more than 200 people.
        "That commitment," Wyatt continued, "extends to the St. Johns neighborhood where Toyota is located and to the hundreds of direct employees, support staff, vendors and service providers who depend on this company for their livelihood. We're delighted to have Toyota as a community and business partner."