Les Schwab’s new digs

Published 4:00 am Sunday, November 9, 2008

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.

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