The Compass Group, the big pension-fund manager, is moving to a new location here and plans to change its name to reflect its relationship with Seattle-based Washington Capital Management Inc.
Rich Hardan, president of Compass Group, which has been the Eastern Washington division of Washington Capital Management since that company bought Compass Group more than a decade ago, says the division is moving its office to the Paulsen Building, at 421 W. Riverside.
The new offices are just kitty-corner from the location it has occupied in the Sherwood Building, at 510 W. Riverside, for more than 30 years.
Compass Group invests building trade union pension funds largely in construction projects. Washington Capital Management manages overall about $3.3 billion in pension funds, primarily for institutional clients in Washington, Idaho, Oregon, and Alaska, Hardan says.
When the division occupies its new space here at the beginning of next month, it also will drop the Compass Group name and begin using the Washington Capital Management name, Hardan says.
Compass Group Inc. was started here in 1968 by Old National Bancorporation. It was purchased by Washington Capital Management in 1997, but has continued to use its former name to do business in Eastern Washington, Hardan says.
"We kept the Compass name because we were well-known as Compass. We have changed that in the last few years," Hardan says.
Though its new location is quite similar in overall size to its current 1,100-square-foot suite, the new space will have a more convenient layout, including a conference room and more efficiently located offices for the three staff members here, Hardan says.