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Mike Benbow, Business Editor benbow@heraldnet.com

Boeing supplier Korry leaves Seattle for Snohomish County

The company, which builds 787 cockpit panels, chooses Paine Field over a site in Seattle.

By Michelle Dunlop
Herald Writer

EVERETT -- The company that builds overhead cockpit panels for the Boeing Co.'s 787 Dreamliner plans to move a smidge closer to its customer.

Seattle-based Korry Electronics announced Thursday that it will relocate to available property at Snohomish County's Paine Field Airport. The aerospace and defense industry supplier had been in talks with the Port of Seattle to move there from its South Lake Union area facility but those discussions ended earlier this month. Korry employs 600 people.

"We're proud to be a part of the growing aerospace community in Snohomish County," said Dan McFeeley, Korry president and chief executive.

Korry, an avionics and controls division of Bellevue-based Esterline Technologies, joins Snohomish County's aerospace cluster. Nearly 35,000 people in the county hold aerospace-related jobs.

"This highlights for other companies that we're ready to compete for their jobs," said Aaron Reardon, Snohomish County executive.

County officials had hoped to attract more 787 suppliers after the Legislature passed $3.2 billion in tax incentives to sway Boeing to assemble its Dreamliner here. Only a few 787 suppliers have done so, but the county has enjoyed some recent success in snapping up aerospace companies from neighboring King County. Earlier this month, University Swaging announced it intended to leave its Ballard facility and move to south Snohomish County.

Korry, which manufactures specialized aerospace interfaces for cockpits, has been in the Puget Sound region for nearly 70 years. The company will lease 14 acres of land for 55 years at an initial annual rate of $288,672 from Seattle-based Capstone Partners.

Under its agreement with Korry, Capstone will build a 250,000-square-foot building to lease to Korry. Construction is slated to begin in August.

Korry will occupy the Fairmount Park Housing site, which the county bought in 1996 for future airport use. Built in 1954, the housing development includes about 70 houses and duplexes. Some Navy families had lived there after the county purchased the site but have since moved to Smokey Point.

Snohomish County has offered the units as temporary market-rate housing. The county housing authority has recommended the closure of Fairmount Park Housing because of the age of the houses and increasing difficulty in maintaining them.

The Economic Development Council of Snohomish County worked to broker the deal between Korry and its parent company Esterline. Esterline, which has annual sales of more than $1 billion, is an international firm that makes aerospace and defense products at sites in the United States, Canada, France and the United Kingdom.

"We are excited about Korry's move to Paine Field," said Deborah Knutson, president of the EDC. "Their products serve both the commercial and defense markets, which will help to strengthen local economic cycles."