Cruise line explores Eugene-Springfield for call center.

Byline: Christian Wihtol The Register-Guard

Cruise ship operator Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. may add Eugene-Springfield to its itinerary.

In search of a spot to open a 300-employee reservations center, company executives have visited Eugene and Springfield several times in recent weeks, looking at sites in both cities, Springfield Mayor Sid Leiken said Wednesday evening.

"They're poking around. As far as how serious they are, it's hard to say," Leiken said.

The Miami-based company was initially keen on the shuttered Sony CD factory in Springfield's Gateway area, but decided against it because it had too many manufacturing-specific features, Leiken said.

Royal Caribbean's search for a West Coast office site had been proceeding in secret, but a public official in the Spokane area decided to go public earlier this week.

The company will choose between Eugene-Springfield and Spokane Valley, Wash., sometime this month, Spokane Valley Councilwoman Diana Wilhite told the Spokane Spokesman-Review newspaper.

Royal Caribbean officials said that wherever the center goes, it eventually could grow to 1,200 to 1,400 employees, Leiken said. In addition to having lower-wage telephone workers, the center would also have higher-level executives, he said.

Royal Caribbean officials looked at a number of vacant parcels in the Eugene-Springfield area on which to build a complex, Leiken said. He said he wasn't sure how much acreage or how big a facility the company wanted. He said that aside from the Sony site, he wasn't sure what properties the company looked at.

The Spokane newspaper said the company would build a 230,000-square-foot facility.

Oregon and Lane County have long sought to court call centers. The Eugene-Springfield area has a burgeoning roster of such centers, and in Springfield the facilities are eligible for property tax waivers under the state's enterprise zone program.

Royal Caribbean's search apparently has intensified in recent weeks.

Leiken said the company's team visited the Eugene-Springfield area most recently about three weeks ago.

Company officials have also toured the Spokane area.

``We talked with them at great length about what we have to offer,'' Spokane Valley councilor Wilhite said.

Royal Caribbean spokesman Michael Sheehan told the Spokesman-Review that the company is looking at opening a call center in the Northwest and that the Spokane area is under consideration.

``Is Spokane a possibility? It is one of a number of possibilities,'' Sheehan said. ``We are doing our research and talking with some of the communities involved in an exploratory manner.''

Spokane Valley Mayor Mike DeVleming said he sat down twice with company employees and consultants, once in April and again in May.

Spokane Area Economic Development Council leader Jon Eliassen said competing with states such as Oregon, which doesn't have a sales tax, is difficult because of the increased costs Washington's sales tax adds to construction.

A bill that would have provided sales-tax exemptions for construction of certain facilities died in the Washington Legislature's last session. It's likely to be reintroduced in the next session, Eliassen said.

Royal Caribbean has about 3,400 employees, and had sales last year of $3.8 billion.