Driving into Redmond from the south along U.S. Highway 97, one will surely wonder — what is that massive new building going up on the east side?

In what looks like an airport hangar, sporting a huge BasX sign, is actually a manufacturing facility for HVAC systems specially designed for data centers, clean rooms and other high-tech facilities.

Matt Tobolski and Dave Benson, the founders of BasX LLC, are capitalizing on tech boom times, creating space-age systems for customers that are themselves growing like gangbusters. Their clientele list includes some of Silicon Valley’s largest tech companies.

That’s good news for the city of Redmond, which is making a name for itself as a manufacturing and light industry hub. BasX has been recently joined by Wild Mike’s Pizza, which is in the process of building a 270,000 square foot food processing plant in Redmond. The city is also home to medical supplies company Medline, dairy products producer Eberhard’s, and jet aircraft manufacturer Stratos.

Rapid expansion

But with its new facility on Highway 97, BasX is emerging as a major player in the city of 30,000 people. The new building adds 90,000 square feet to the existing 110,000 square foot facility.

Inside, workers are busy building cooling solutions for data centers. They also churn out environmental control systems for cleanroom applications to be used at semi-conductor plants, pharmaceutical companies and operating rooms.

The company has come a long way since 2014 when Tobolski and Benson purchased an abandoned Walmart on Redmond’s south side. At the time the pair spent $6 million to transform the Walmart into a manufacturing plant. Over the past 18 months, they’ve spent $23 million on the new building and equipment.

Tobolski, who previously worked as a consulting engineer, said it was a challenge to remake the Walmart building. But since the new facility is purpose-built, it has increased their efficiency immeasurably.

“As we continue to grow, pushing this building to its max with multiple shifts operating allows us to more or less double what we did in 2020 going forward,” said Tobolski, who grew up in Boston but moved to the West Coast to get a Ph.D. in engineering from the University of California, San Diego.

Employee growth, but land becoming scarce

All that investment has allowed the company to increase its employee roster to around 300 people. Benson, a former HVAC engineer with Intel, said more expansion in the future is possible, but there are limitations.

“We have maxed out the allowable building area on this site, we will never leave this site, but further expansion will be based upon affordable land and construction, along with labor force availability,” said Benson, who was lured out of retirement by Tobolski to help start the company.

The business even increased during COVID as data centers expanded when workers went remote, said Tobolski. The microchip shortage also resulted in U.S. manufacturing growth of clean rooms, which meant more business for BasX.

“We refocused all our efforts on data centers and clean rooms,” said Tobolski. “Ultimately that paid off because those markets have seen substantial appreciation during COVID.”

Tobolski and Benson credit the city Redmond and other business leaders in Central Oregon for helping BasX expand through business-friendly incentives.

“The city of Redmond is very pro-business so our ability to grow and develop this property and have support from the political powers as well as the city itself has been great,” said Tobolski. “REDI (Redmond Economic Development Inc.) and EDCO truly sold us on the idea and that is why we are up here.”

The right fit

Jon Stark, senior director at REDI, called BasX a “gazelle company,” a nod to its fast development, and is pleased that it calls Redmond home.

“This is exactly the kind of company you hope to land when you work in economic development,” said Stark. “They are doing exactly what we look for in terms of their hockey stick-style growth.”

Stark said the investment the BasX has made in infrastructure and facilities translates into more jobs for Redmond, plus more tax revenue for the city.

“These guys set the bar for the type of company we look for, they continue to invest here, we are proud of the talent pool they have brought to the table,” said Stark.

As BasX grows, what does its future hold? Tobolski said a public offering is not likely but a buyout by a larger company is within the realm of possibility.

“I would never say never,” he said. “It’s a natural progression, a certain way of growth to leverage additional capital.”

Jobs opportunities, check. Tax revenue, check. Expansion, check. By all accounts, BasX has been great for Central Oregon. But one head-scratcher remains. What’s with the name? To begin with, it’s pronounced “base-x” or more to the point “basics.” And the meaning is just that — back to the basics.

“BasX is an homage to our business philosophy,” said Tobolski. “Going back to the basics was kind of our focus and it’s really about being true to values and our partners in the industry.”

“Being true to your word, meeting your commitments, and going out of your way to help your customers succeed is what we hold true to our values for our partners.”

“The city of Redmond is very pro-business so our ability to grow and develop this property and have support from the political powers as well as the city itself has been great.”

Matt Tobolski, BasX co-founder