Tidland property has new owners

A recent purchase by a local company will enable another long term business to stay put.

Jerry and Mary Sauer, owners of Excavator Rental Services, are the new owners of the Tidland Corporate Center, at 2305 S.E. Eighth Ave., Camas.

The $3.3 million purchase includes 64,000 square feet of industrial buildings and a 6.03-acre campus.

The buyer was the Sauer Development Group LLC, and the seller was Camas Holdings, LLC.

ERS offers service, sales and rental of heavy and construction equipment.

Tidland Corporation, a manufacturer of paper and foil winding equipment, originated in Camas in 1951.

When the Tidland Corporate Center was on the market in November 2009, the asking price was $3.95 million.

At that time, the intention was to sell the property and move the Tidland office and manufacturing functions to another location within five miles of the current site.

The potential move would have been an effort to create a more efficient work environment and process, since the reduced number of employees did not need as much space as was available in the Eighth Avenue location. In 2001, there were 130 employees.

With the Sauer’s purchase, the 76 Tidland employees will continue working in three of the manufacturing and marketing buildings at their current location.

ERS, founded in 2005, will consolidate three of its locations into the other three buildings at the Tidland site, while retaining the ERS equipment yard at 39 “C” St.

“We were out of space,” said Mary Sauer. “We needed to get everything into one space.

“We spend a lot of time, going back and forth,” she added. “I’m looking forward to having everything with Tidland people. They are great.”

One of the buildings, which is currently a shell, will become the ERS store, with a showroom area to open in January 2015. Another building will become the ERS shop.

A front corner building will include the accounting and information technology departments, as well as a conference room, for both companies.

Some trees, shrubs and overgrown blackberry bushes have been removed from the former Tidland property, to create room for the ERS trucks to pass through.

“It will be transforming every day, literally, until we open,” Sauer said, regarding the industrial complex.

ERS has 24 employees, including the Sauers.

“We were wanting to do this in the Camas area, by Highway 14, which is convenient for our customers,” Mary Sauer said. “We serve the Gorge, Portland, all over Camas, Clark County, Skamania County and beyond. This is a good central place to be. We’re excited it worked out.”

Tidland Corporation is owned by Maxcess International, which has offices in Oklahoma, New Hampshire, Wisconsin, Massachusetts, China, Japan, Poland and Germany.

Currently, the ERS rental and sales office is located at 1910 S.E. Eighth Ave., Camas; while its attachment rebuild center is at 2340 S.E. Eighth Ave., Camas. The ERS contractor tool center is located at 2632 “E” St.,Washougal. The Sauers are leasing each building from different landlords.