Biometrics Company MorphoTrak Moving Office to Federal Way
After more than 20 years in Tacoma, the engineering arm of MorphoTrak is packing up and moving up the freeway. The TNT reported on the transition this morning.
The City has made two offers to the company in an attempt to negotiate their continued presence – which would have kept about 150 employees downtown. It is speculated that the move is motivated by the outlandishly low corporate facility lease rates in Federal Way.
We’ve never felt the need to insinuate disaster and pass it off as prescient or brutally honest. Although news of any business leaving Tacoma is troubling, it is important to keep a balanced perspective. As Mayor Strickland pointed out in her “State of the City Address”:
1,080 businesses closed in 2010 while 2,300 new businesses opened, equaling 1,200 net new businesses. More than 50 of those new businesses are located downtown.
Link to The News Tribune
Filed under: General
34 comments
J jamie from thriceallamerican February 4, 2011
Sucks.
Just over two years ago, after working 5 years at a software company in downtown Tacoma, I took a job in Seattle because the opportunities were more abundant and more interesting. Numerous former coworkers have made similar shifts to companies in Seattle and Bellevue while continuing to live in Tacoma. The time I waste commuting sucks, but it’s a tradeoff I make for my career.
People in the software industry are notoriously fickle and always want to move onto the next opportunity that’s more interesting or challenging (or pays more). Job opportunities for software developers in Tacoma are never abundant enough to support this job jumping desire, and the loss of one more company, especially one as large as MorphoTrak, is a blow.
I’ll be damned if I ever take a job in the City of Enchanted Village.
J jamie from thriceallamerican February 4, 2011
I should clarify that I’m not all doom and gloom about this. I have a job and the folks at MorphoTrak get to keep theirs. Tacoma will survive just fine. But I keep my finger on the pulse if the industry here in town and news like this is discouraging to me…
R RR Anderson February 4, 2011
Money is good, but all those employee’s lunch hours will be intensely less interesting.
M Moochach February 4, 2011
I don’t think the Mayor or anyone else at a high level in the City is nearly concerned enough about the overall trend of downtown. Not even close. 50 new businesses downtown may be great or it may be a drop in the bucket, depends on what they are doing, how large they are and how large they can become. One big business could have more impact on Tacoma than 100 tiny ones, or the opposite can happen. The number of businesses is not particularly meaningful. Rather than hanging their collective hat on the fact that 50 people applied for business licenses downtown I would like to hear them articulate their plan for attracting and maintaining businesses downtown, because regardless of the 50 new businesses, most of downtown is deader now than it was 5 or 10 years ago (except near the UWT). I am sure that many will disagree with my opinion but as a person who works downtown everyday I don’t feel a good vibe at all – it’s just dead.
What happened to the bold talk about how the City would keep pushing forward with their International Finance District plan even though Russell left? What’s the plan to help the restaurants and shops downtown who have lost about 1,000 potential customers in the last year alone? What ‘s the plan to bring some life to the expanse of parking and closed sidewalks between 12th and 15th? Is the City concerned about the fact that most of the businesses around the Convention Ctr have shut down (Starbucks, UPS store, Sea Grill)?
If the City wants to keep and attract businesses downtown they need to be able to explain how being downtown will provide advantages that:
1. Support the growth of a business
2. Attract the best employees
3. Make good economic sense
If the City cannot compete on the first or second points, then the decision is going to come down to cost – and the City is not going to beat cities like Federal Way, Lakewood, Kent Valley or Gig Harbor on cost. For a medium to large business being in downtown Tacoma costs a premium, for the company and the employees. If a business cannot realize some other benefits by paying the premium, then they won’t be there. When Russell left, the City said it was fine, they just got a good deal on the new building, nothing could be done. Now it’s the same thing with Morphotrak. They should be very worried, and they should be making this a much bigger focus of their efforts. You cannot keep giving out across the board staff raises and buying cool electric cars if employers keep moving out of your tax boundaries.
J Jesse February 4, 2011
There isn’t any life downtown because there’s no shopping there.
Double or triple the size of the convention building and make it into an urban style outlet mall. There isn’t one in the south sound. The mall’s 3 mile rule for stores that sign their leases would be a non-issue because outlet stores are different stores.
Let the private sector do the convention thing or build out the dome further.
M Moochach February 4, 2011
Tacoma is not losing companies like Russell, Nalley’s, and Morphotrak because these companies are victims of the economy – they are losing them because they are finding better places to do business. The City kept DaVita from moving to Puyallup but only after agreeing to build them a light rail stop and a parking lot. Tacoma seems to be having a hard time finding a company that choses downtown as the best place to do business, the City should be concerned about that.
S Squid February 4, 2011
“If a business cannot realize some other benefits by paying the premium, then they won’t be there.”
Exactamundo. Differentiate with value, die with price.
T TacomAroma February 4, 2011
Move the mall downtown. Problem solved.
C crenshaw sepulveda February 4, 2011
All those fancy new businesses in Tacoma we should be a real boom town. I dare say it is time for people to Buy Now!! or Invest!!
M Morty February 4, 2011
Parking is a significant and consistent complaint in these stories, the City can follow Bellevue Square’s model by allowing free guest, and in this case, employee parking in its downtown garages. It doesn’t address the smaller inefficient floor plates in a majority of downtown’s older buildings or the higher comparative rents but it will remove one objection to doing business in the CBD. Vacancy is currently high in the garages and the city typically ends up offing large parking concessions while trying to retain these businesses anyway. Why not create a consistent, clear, and cost saving policy that business owners and employers can rely on.
N Nick February 4, 2011
Over time I’ve been getting the impression that about the only reason an employer will locate in downtown Tacoma is if the leadership/stakeholders have a personal love for Tacoma.
It is my perception that many employers operate in Tacoma for sentimental reasons, and not economic ones. I think Russell was the poster-child for that. A few years after the Russell family sold off their stake in the company, the decision on where to locate became purely economic and not sentimental.
That’s where Tacoma’s challenge is. Our leadership needs to make it more economical to locate in downtown Tacoma versus nearby alternatives, or we’re only going to ever retain the business leaders that are hardcore pro-Tacoma.
R RR Anderson February 4, 2011
Do you care if your employees are obese? No? Move to Federal Way.
Do you like historic buildings? Farmers Markets? Walk-ablity? Move to Tacoma.
M Mofo from the Hood February 5, 2011
Tacoma is a complicated city.
People leave because they want a simpler life—-narrow streets, community gardens, socially progressive folks.
C crenshaw sepulveda February 5, 2011
I don’t think they find that simpler life in Federal Way.
M Moochach February 6, 2011
People can denigrate Federal Way all they want but that’s not going to change the fact that it makes good business sense for Morphotrak to move there, just like it did for Weyerhaeuser.
When historic buildings, a farmer’s market and walk-ability begin generating revenue for a company I am sure that Tacoma will begin attracting some business – although not too much because if historic buildings, farmer’s markets and walkability were the key decision making criteria for business locations Tacoma may not even be in the top 10 in Washington State. Tacoma may beat Federal Way with that set of criteria, but so would Bellingham, Olympia, Vancouver, Mount Vernon, Port Townsend, Seattle, Bellevue, Spokane, Bainbridge Island, Friday Harbor, and probably at least 10 other cities. If you look beyond Washington then I am pretty sure Tacoma is not going to rank in the top 100.
Walkability is great if there’s somewhere to walk to. Our employees don’t walk around town at lunchtime, there’s nowhere to go. If we were outside of downtown they might, but walking around the core of downtown is not scenic, not particularly pleasant and there are not the retail level businesses that allow them to get errands done. Farmer’s markets are nice but that’s not exactly unique at this point, it was unique in 1990, not 2011.
RR Anderson – I don’t mean this whole rant as an attack so please don’t take it that way, I am just expressing a sense of exasperation from trying to run a business in the City for a decade. I really like Tacoma, I think it has tons of potential, but at some point when you see all these other cities around you becoming better places to live and work, creating more opportunity, and being frankly a whole lot more welcoming to business – it’s hard to listen to the City continually acting like everything is fine. It’s not fine. Except for the investment the State has been making at the UW, what’s the net gain in the downtown area over the past 10 years? Potential is great, as long as it is taken advantage of. Many of the businesses that have been leaving Tacoma are businesses that are not location dependent, they do business all over the state, the country or the world. If your business operates in a broad geographic market, you can do business from anywhere, and if you have that type of selection available why would you chose Tacoma? If the City cannot answer that question in a way that appeals to the basic revenue-generating / cost-lowering math that businesses use to make choices then they are not going to attract anyone. If the answer is farmers markets, walkability and historic buildings then the City had better start figuring out how to show those characteristics as either revenue producing or cost lowering, otherwise they have limited value in the decision making process.
R RR Anderson February 6, 2011
@15 I agree. Perhaps we’re better off as a whole city cleansing ourselves of corporations that see an advantage of being in a soul-crushing place like Federal Way. They can go to hell, and how!
R RR Anderson February 6, 2011
Businesses who don’t care about the mental health of their employees deserve to be in places like Federal Way.
M Moochach February 6, 2011
@17 : All I can tell you is that after 8 years downtown, our employees are excited to be looking elsewhere. Not a couple of them or most of them, all of them. They’ve not felt their souls enriched or mental health enhanced downtown. You feel they should all go to hell for not sharing your values. I am not sure how demanding that everyone in the City share your belief and value structure will create a better place to live but who knows, maybe that’s worth a shot. Good luck!
R RR Anderson February 7, 2011
as somebody who has transitioned from working in Downtown Tacoma to Federal Way I can tell you it is a deranged and morally deprived place. Your employees are happy to have jobs yes. What is the alternative? Deep down they are dead inside.
M Moochach February 7, 2011
We aren’t moving to Federal Way, but I am sure that won’t keep you from calling my employees dead and desperate. Keep telling yourself that you’re better and smarter than everyone else, you’ll fit right in with the Visualize Tacoma crew who are convinced that it’s all just a matter of better PR and promoting “potential”.
D daniel February 7, 2011
hyperbole and button-pushing aside, i think this is one of the better back-and-forths i’ve read on this site in some time. Moochach’s comments are extremely thoughtful, and I’ve enjoyed reading them. Spiritually, I agree with RR. I am fiercely loyal to this city, and vehemently opposed to the sprawling developer-revenue-machine so perfectly symbolized by Federal Way.
But I think Tacoma does need to seriously consider what the future is going to look like. When the effects of the economic downturn have subsided, do we expect our business strategy to hold any water? Will our downtown highrises fill? if Moochach is right, I think the answer could be “no.” Should that stop the City from investing in the “progressive city” direction it’s bumbling toward? No, i don’t think so. I think business savvy and cultural savvy can go hand in hand.
Unfortunately, only one side of that equation has any talent for diplomacy. :)
R RR Anderson February 7, 2011
tell me, what kind of biometric apparatus can be used to monitor the soul as it is sucked from a human meat brain?
Federal Way is what the world looks like when THE CONSPIRACY wins and all the cosmic slack is forfeit.
J Jesse February 7, 2011
Dearest Morphotrak, Federal Way is Anytown, USA, except, even worse, it has no downtown. Go find a unique and good restaurant that’s not a chain there. Go ahead. Good luck.
The employees that are excited to be moving there fall into one of two categories: 1. Have little personality or 2. Are not happy about moving but rather they are just kissing ass about it. Take your pick.
Oh, and if you are a “business leader”, why haven’t you been a leader in the local community? I’ve been following local politics for a while and I can say with no doubt that this city council would bend over backwards for business. Have you led the fight in Tacoma against the things you dislike here? That’s what ACTUAL leaders do. They don’t cut and run. Pussies.
L low bar February 7, 2011
and lo…all idioms aside though, makes you wonder how the last native tribes around the nation were arguing about all the white face soul sucking as the first bricks were being laid in tahoma, the very bricks that now conjure up these feelings of loyalty. i think what we are seeing here is a rejection of that which is no longer sacred in our society. and its a human thing. reject the un-sacred. if you find sacredness in a failing downtown, awesome, you’ve found it. but it’s not about the bricks folks. it about toy story 3 and everyone on RR’s wavelength feeling like they’re heading towards that incinerator. lets just hope the RR’s claw is a mighty enough deus ex machina to lift spirits of the tacoma family out of the minced up trash pit of the american dream.
M Mofo from the Hood February 7, 2011
I think Morpho from the Hood went on a field trip to the Chinese Reconciliation Park and concluded that Tacoma is not their kind of town.
P Pubished Author RR Anderson February 7, 2011
The visually interesting architecture is just a happy side benefit. For me the “loyalty” originates at being able to use the legs endowed to me by the great creator (JHVH-1) to walk in straight lines on a god damned sidewalk to a decent non-chain burger and or curry. If you want to rely on a automobile FOR EVERYTHING supporting terrorist nations or brutal dictators and don’t mind the flavorless slop they serve at OLIVE GARDEN then FEDERAL WAY is your town.
L low bar February 7, 2011
THE C.L.A.W!!!!!
J jamie from thriceallamerican February 7, 2011
Re: FWay restaurants: I think Federal Way sucks just as much as the next guy, but we do have them to thank for being the home of the original Indochine, and in turn Wild Orchid. I think there’s some good indy restaurants, Asian and otherwise, buried up there in strip mall land. Sadly, they’re all in strip malls…
R Rick Jones February 7, 2011
Akasaka. 31246 Pac Hwy. Some of the best sushi around.
D dolly varden February 7, 2011
And they’ve got a pupuseria at 33427 Pacific Hwy S. Downtown Tacoma needs an International Pupuseria District.
But F-W doesn’t have any Ethiopian food either. Where’s the closest Ethiopian food? Columbia City?
P Pubished Author RR Anderson February 7, 2011
what’s really tragic? How about the drop in nutrients our city-wide TAGRO products will be sure to suffer..
Ever wonder why Office space and Bio-Solids have the same CLASS-A rankings?
L low bar February 7, 2011
maybe federal way is a government experiment. like instead of safe way, you get federal way, and then if the experiment works as we can see it is, everyone will be living the federal way. because brawndo has electrolytes.
M Mofo from the Hood February 8, 2011
Maybe after the invention of TAGRO, the City of Tacoma put too much hope in it for attracting and retaining businessmen. Lord knows, the City promoted TAGRO and it is even developing new neighborhood gardens for the stuff. I suppose office workers don’t really “get” the whole TAGRO concept and how it can build and unite a community.
S Squid February 8, 2011
A back and forth about which is worse, Tacoma or Federal Way is depressing in the extreme.