Port Announces New Lease with SCS Refrigerated Services

The Port of Seattle Commission yesterday approved a 30-year lease for 15 acres of land at Terminal 25 with SCS Refrigerated Services, a major provider of frozen, chill and dry warehouse space in the Puget Sound area. The site, along East Marginal Way in Seattle's industrial area, is currently occupied by the former Rainier Cold Storage building, which was severely damaged in the Nisqually earthquake of 2001.

Under the terms of the lease, the Port will demolish the Rainier Cold Storage building to make way for SCS to invest $25 million to $35 million in a new 200,000- to 300,000-square foot cold storage building. SCS will also lease up to 600 feet of pier from the Port.

"This lease gets Terminal 25 back to work, producing investment in our economy, jobs for our region and revenue for the Port," said Port of Seattle Commission Chair Patricia Davis. "SCS will employ about 70 people on-site, but their operation will have positive effects throughout the Port and the region."

"SCS is a first-class company that will help make our Port more competitive and support crucial industries such as fishing and the export of frozen foodstuffs," said Port of Seattle CEO M. R. Dinsmore. "The fact that this is a long-term lease means that it will generate ongoing revenue for the Port and create jobs for years to come."

The move also was facilitated because Matson Navigation, another former Terminal 25 tenant, moved across the East Duwamish Waterway to Terminal 18 after the Port completed a $300 million expansion and upgrade to that facility.