Bellevue’s economic development director makes business retention, expansion top priority in 2015

Published 12:23 pm Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Bellevue Economic Development Director James Henderson says it may be too late to keep Expedia from moving to Seattle, but he believes he can draw and keep more businesses here through a retention and expansion program that will be his office’s top priority in 2015.

“I think a BRE (Business Retention and Expansion) program is a really great way to say to businesses, ‘We’re here to support you in the long term,’” Henderson said.

The Bellevue native said he’s borrowing from a program he employed in San Antonio, Texas, where he worked as an assistant economic development director before taking his position with Bellevue in December, using an economic development action team to assess and address the needs of local businesses and those looking to relocate.

“It’s very customized and it’s really supposed to help companies with very specific questions and needs,” Henderson said.

The economic development director told the city council on April 20 about how he met with a Bellevue-based food manufacturing company that wanted to expand into the Canadian market. His office connected the company with export services that got them on their way, he said.

Providing technical assistance and working with city departments to connect companies with methods for improving or expanding their business leads to more job creation and local investments over time, Henderson said.

“It’s always kind of checking the pulse of a company,” he said.

Henderson said he listened when local developer Kemper Freeman, Jr., said he doesn’t believe Expedia’s announcement it would move to Seattle in 2018 is a sure thing, but decisions like Expedia’s are not made without extensive planning.

“They aren’t the first and they won’t be the last,” he said.

E-commerce giant Alibaba is considering Bellevue among its possible choices for a new U.S. headquarters, wanting to save on rental costs by moving from San Francisco and capitalizing on the region’s supply of tech workers. Alibaba has a small office in Seattle.

Henderson said he met with an Alibaba representative recently, to understand the company’s needs.

“They seem like a great company, and I think Bellevue would be very attractive to them,” he said.

It isn’t about Bellevue versus Seattle, Henderson said; he thinks there is a regional opportunity to open up foreign trade offices, much like what San Antonio has — most of those are located in Mexico.

Henderson said he’ll present a final draft of a crowdfunding marketplace study — completed by BERK and Associates — to city council in the near future. BERK is the same consulting firm that developed the city’s draft economic development plan, which focuses on drawing in startup tech companies. Henderson said the city needed to be clear how equity crowdfunding — where an individual could buy in to a Bellevue startup and receive a share of the company — aligns with the Washington JOBS (Jumpstart Our Business Startups) Act, passed last year.