Les Schwab’s new digs
Published 4:00 am Sunday, November 9, 2008
- Craig Stockbridge of GBD Architects explains the layout o fthe new Les Schwab Tire Centers headquarters while standing in its 2,500-square-foot lobby during a Saturday tour of the facility in northeast Bend.
Just fewer than 14 months after construction began on the headquarters, officials are getting ready to move in. The 123,000-square-foot facility eventually will house more than 300 executive and administrative employees, and will replace the current main office in Prineville.
The building is the first to go up in Bend’s 1,500-acre Juniper Ridge development and features high-tech designs, including motion-and sunlight-activated lighting, rooftop solar panels and a heating system the helps melt ice and snow from the sidewalks. Employees working in the building will be able to dine in its 5,000-square-foot O.K. Cafe, named after O.K. Rubber Welders, the company that Les Schwab started in the 1950s.
Stockbridge said the company hopes to have all of its employees moved in by January.