Brigade to buy school office

Brigade Electronics is poised to have a new U.S. headquarters.

Jay School Board on Monday selected Brigade’s offer to purchase its administrative office building for $425,000.

The sale is contingent on the property being rezoned.

Brigade was one of two entities that submitted a final offer on the property. (There were three initial officers, all of which came in at or above the asking price of $325,000, but the City of Portland did not make a final offer.) The school corporation did not identify the other entity involved or the amount of its offer.

Jay School Board in January decided to put the administrative office property, as well as others, up for sale. (Plans call for administrative offices to move to the General Shanks building this summer.) A month later, it hired Loy Real Estate and Auction to handle the sale of the parcels. And on March 15 it decided to ask the three interested parties for their best and final offers, as well as their planned uses for the building and 5 acres. The deadline to turn in those offers was Wednesday.

Brigade, an England-based company that manufactures vehicle safety equipment, plans to use the site as its new U.S. headquarters. The company currently rents space at the southeast corner of Pearl and Depot streets in Portland for its offices and also rents warehouse space in one of the former Patriot Paints buildings on Water Street.

“It raises our visibility to what we should be as an international company,” said Corey Heniser, a Portland resident and CEO of Brigade Electronics Inc. “It’s one of the big plusses of having a more established location.”

He said the company had identified the building as one that would fit its needs long before it came up for sale. He noted that it is also opening an office in Las Vegas to help handle business in the western U.S.

Also Monday, Jay Schools bus driver Nancy Cline advocated for increased pay for those who drive for field trips and sporting events. She said there is not enough financial incentive to take on those duties and that it is becoming more and more difficult to find drivers to fill those roles.

The board did not discuss the issue at the meeting, but superintendent Jeremy Gulley said he expects it will likely be on the agenda for the April 19 meeting.