Since its inception in November 2012, OneRedmond has been focusing on job creation and expansion in Redmond.
As part of this effort, CEO Bart Phillips said OneRedmond — a public-private partnership for economic development in the city — spent 2014 meeting with existing businesses in Redmond, working with them to identify opportunities for growth. He said they also worked to identify any barriers the businesses may have and worked to remove those barriers.
For example, he said, they learned from a number of businesses located along Willows Road Northeast that they are negatively impacted by the heavy traffic on that street. To address the businesses’ concerns, Phillips said OneRedmond conducted an economic impact analysis to quantify that impact. The results of the study will be released this month.
In addition to helping existing businesses in Redmond, Phillips said OneRedmond assisted in bringing three companies to Redmond: Sonata Software, a global software services company; Seattle Aero, an aerospace parts and services provider; and Super Jock ‘n Jill, a specialty running and walking store.
Evan Riggs, manager at Super Jock ‘n Jill in Redmond, said the new store opened Oct. 11, 2014 and is their second one — the first is located in Seattle’s Green Lake neighborhood. Their coming to Redmond was about a year-and-a-half-long process as co-owners Chet James and his wife Judy Albrecht became more serious in their discussions about opening a second store on the Eastside.
Riggs said they looked throughout the area, but things really fell into place when they found the downtown location at 16095 Cleveland St. He said the surrounding businesses of Top Pot Doughnut, Rudy’s Barbershop and Zeeks Pizza also helped in their decision.
Riggs said OneRedmond has also been very helpful and welcoming since their store opened a few months ago.
“They’ve been great,” he said about the organization.
Riggs said OneRedmond does what they can to help, including telling others about his store and helping them market the business, as well as visiting the store to check in with them.
He added that the rest of the Redmond community has been very welcoming and helpful since they have moved into town, as well. Riggs spent a day in the summer, before their store opened, talking with local businesses and he said the people he came across offered him tips to doing business in Redmond.
“People in Redmond have been great,” he said.
Phillips, who has been with OneRedmond since November 2012, said in his two-plus years, he spent his first year working to develop a strategy for the organization and his second year executing that strategy.
“It’s been very busy,” he said.
In addition to assisting existing and new businesses, that strategy also includes public policy work, Phillips said.
One example of this, he said, was working with the City of Redmond to increase the efficiency of its development permitting process. As a result, it now takes about a quarter of the time to process applications and other paperwork, he said.
Looking to the future, Phillips said in 2015, OneRedmond plans to do more work with bringing in new businesses.
“Next year, we’ll start this in earnest,” he said.
OneRedmond will also do more work with the Washington Interactive Network, creating programming to grow the interactive media and gaming industry in Redmond.
Phillips said a few ways they will do this will be through a series of training workshops, peer-to-peer mentorship opportunities and holding an independent gaming conference come spring.
