Amer Sports Winter & Outdoor Americas staged a "homecoming celebration" Friday evening to, as President Mike Dowse said, thank Ogden for the warm welcome.
The Finland-based company this summer consolidated several marketing and customer-service operations from Oregon, California, Colorado and New Hampshire into its new location in Ogden's historic American Can Building, which has been vacant for nearly 30 years.
Robert Ulrich of Lu'na Design Studio in Salt Lake City was the architect for the renovation.
At Friday's open house, a silent auction raised money for Weber Pathways, the group responsible for the county's award-winning trail system.
Those attending got a tour of Amer's three-story offices centered around an atrium and occupying about a quarter of the huge structure where vegetables once were canned. They also heard from Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. and Ogden Mayor Matthew Godfrey.
Amer is the largest of nearly a dozen outdoor companies that have opened offices or distribution centers in Ogden in the past few years. It's a linchpin in the city's attempt to become a hub of outdoor recreation.
So far, Amer employs 109 people here, including 30 who came from other company locations throughout the United States. Ten new employees were hired from elsewhere in the country and Europe, and more than 60 were hired in northern Utah. Six work at a repair center at Business Depot Ogden.
Within 10 years, Amer expects to grow to 230 employees in Ogden, a target that helped it win nearly $8 million in tax incentives from the state last fall.
Dowse, a Salt Lake City native, said the company already pays salaries averaging at least $68,000, another factor in the state's generosity.
One of Ogden's attractions, he said, was its inexpensive real estate.
The company could lease its space for half what it paid in other cities, and employees are able to afford homes. The transplants have bought 22 houses in Ogden, he said, and many are first-time home buyers.
Besides offices for the ski brands Salomon, Atomic and Arc'teryx, and watch and compass brand Suunto, the new headquarters boasts a 110-seat theater and rooms where employees can store their skis or borrow from a fleet of bicycles.
kmoulton@sltrib.com
* Amer Sports Corp., based in Helsinki, Finland, employs more than 6,600 people throughout the world. Its brands include Salomon, Suunto, Atomic, Arc'teryx, Wilson, Precor and Mavic.
