Bank Buys 1.5 Acres for Training, Support Center

ROSEBURG, OR-Umpqua Bank, the retail banking subsidiary of publicly traded Umpqua Holdings Corp., last week closed on its purchase of land here for the development of a new training and support center. The 1.5-acre parcel is located adjacent the bank’s retail location at 1790 NW Garden Valley Blvd. The purchase price was around $630,000.

The new facility, the size of which is still being determined, will contain classrooms and training services for Umpqua Bank’s associates. The building also will house the Bank’s human resources department, customer support center and additional support services. Management offices will remain at the Bank’s headquarters at 445 SE Main Street in Downtown Roseburg.

As architectural plans are drawn, company officials say other functions may be added to the building. A groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled for sometime this summer, with completion anticipated in spring 2003. “As we continue to grow, we feel it is important to have a centralized facility in our home community that serves as a training and resource center for our associates and management team,” said Bill Haden, President and CEO of Umpqua Bank, which has 45 locations between Ashland and Portland, and along the Oregon coast.

In Downtown Portland on Monday, about 60 anti-logging demonstrators occupied the bank’s offices on the 19th floor of 200 S.W. Market St. to protest the fact that two of the bank’s directors are also timber executives. The protesters, from the environmental group Earth First, were targeting Allyn Ford, the bank’s chairman of the board and president of Roseburg Forest Products, and Lynn Herbert, Umpqua board member and manager of Herbert Lumber. The protesters arrived shortly after noon. Some affixed themselves to doors with bicycle locks and other overturned chairs and spray painted walls before police used pepper spray to disable the crowd. The protesters dispersed after about an hour.