Space company Off Planet Research, LLC has inked a new lease with the Port of Everett for 2,156 square feet of space at the former Ameron pole manufacturing site, the port announced Monday.
The firm, which makes “manufactured soils and ice to emulate extra-terrestrial planets, and provides a laboratory testing environment and materials to ensure equipment durability despite abrasive lunar dust,” will open next month on the property along West Marine View Drive between 10th and 13th streets.
"OPR is excited to be making the move to the Port of Everett," said Melissa Roth, OPR co-owner and lead researcher. "We are looking forward to meeting and working with local companies, including those outside the traditional space and aerospace sector.”
Off Planet’s move to Everett marks the beginning of a vision by the port to reimagine the eight-acre former brownfield site into the new Maritime, Exploration and Innovation Complex, a job space dedicated to blue economies.
The port plans to have as many as five mid-sized companies at the complex, which could generate 293 new jobs on site and another 250 indirect jobs.
“OPR’s decision to locate in our emerging Maritime, Exploration and Innovation Complex marks the start of an exciting new chapter for the Port of Everett and Snohomish County,” Port of Everett CEO Lisa Lefeber said. “We are thrilled that OPR’s work creates new synergies with local instrumentation developers and offers diversity to the local economy and new job opportunities for the county’s large advanced manufacturing workforce.”
