Elma Chamber awards Satsop Business Park business of the quarter.

ELMA – Satsop Business Park received the Elma Chamber business of the quarter for the third quarter. The award was presented Oct. 10 at the Elma Chamber meeting at the Microtel Inn & Suites.

“We appreciate this honor because it means that our efforts at attracting and encouraging businesses and bringing more jobs to this area are making a difference to our community,” said Tami Garrow, CEO of Satsop Business Park.

On Fuller Hill to the south of Elma, Satsop Business Park was the site for a planned nuclear power plant. When the project stopped, local leaders created a business park. Now, 13 years later, more than 40 businesses are located at the Park, which also includes a 1,300-acre working forest and a brand new tunnel rescue training center in addition to other job-training programs and varied partnerships.

“This is an unusual business, but the folks at Satsop Business Park, have great business sense and seem to keep finding ways to recycle what is at the Park into new and creative ventures,” said Rick Jensen, president of the Elma Chamber of Commerce. “They are a key part of our local economy with a bright future.”

“We have warehouse space, office space, industrial space, training space, just about anything most businesses might need,” said Garrow. She said she is proud that the Business Park works closely with each new business that comes to the Park to encourage it to thrive.

In addition, Satsop Business Park, which hosted the 2012 Elma Chamber of Commerce Wine and Seafood festival, has become a local favorite venue to hold events.

Recently the board of directors at Satsop Business Park decided to offer itself to the Port of Grays Harbor. Now, as of Jan. 1, 2013, the Park will merge with the Port, which Garrow said, should strengthen both organizations and attract even more businesses and jobs to Grays Harbor.