Commercial Space in Ashland! IPCO Commercial Properties – A Family Business
IPCO Commercial Properties is a fourth-generation family-run industrial park offering premiere space for lease in Ashland, Oregon.
The family business began in the commercial printing industry in the early 1900’s when great-grandfather Charlie Brombacher took over what was known as the Independent Print Shop in Richmond, California. Under the leadership of Charlie, Charlie’s son Elton, and eventually Elton’s sons Zach and Kurt, created the Independent Printing Company (IPCO), which went on to become one of Contra Costa County’s largest commercial printers.
In the 1960’s Elton discovered Southern Oregon as a potential site to expand production operations in order to serve businesses in Oregon, California and beyond. Land was purchased in Ashland on the south side of town near I-5 and exit 14. In this ideal location, IPCO built a commercial printing plant that employed as many as 50+ employees until the doors were closed in 2016.
While Independent Printing Co was in operation, Zach and Kurt realized there was also a demand for industrial space for local small businesses that needed room to expand. Insulated metal buildings proved to be the most affordable and flexible structures to meet the needs of business owners. Over the years the site has expanded to over 100,000 square feet of industrial space now managed by brothers Zach and Kurt Brombacher and their daughters Lisa Olson and Trina Sanford.
In today’s interview I speak with Trina Sanford about IPCO´s history, commercial space availability, and IPCO’s role in supporting the Ashland business community and beyond.
Trina, thanks so much for taking the time today to share your family’s story here in the LocalsGuide! To begin with and to get everyone on the same page, where exactly are your spaces located?
We are located on the south side of Ashland along Tolman Creek Road and Independent Way across from BiMart and Goodwill. Our property stretches from the DMV building up to the railroad tracks along the east side of Tolman Creek Rd.
You and I had a long talk on the phone before doing this interview and something that struck me was how interconnected IPCO has been in supporting and helping businesses around our community.
Well, we have certainly tried. As printers, we have printed for a variety of businesses both locally and beyond, ranging from things like books, brochures, labels, business cards, to packaging and more.
With ties to the Bay Area in California, we printed the ballots for Contra Costa County, as well as various pieces for Ortho, Chevron, Korbel champagne, Martinelli’s and others.
Locally we’ve printed so many things it’s hard to remember them all! We printed the Chamber’s Living and Doing Business magazine, labels for Maranatha Natural Foods, packaging for Dagoba and Scharffen Berger Chocolates, Sappo Hill Soap, Drill Doctor / Darex, Harry and David, Shakespeare Festival, SOU and so many others. We printed for the Ashland School District, along with various artists and authors, to name a few. No one job was like the other, yet we did our best to meet the needs of our customers and took pride in providing quality work.
Now, we’ve developed the property to include even more commercial space for those that need it. Over the years we have shifted from being printers to property managers with the growth of IPCO Commercial Properties. In this role, we strive to provide a space for other entrepreneurs to land and grow so that they can be the ones to provide products, services and jobs to our community as well.
There are so many businesses in our community that do national and international business, but you would never know unless you were told. IPCO has had its hand in helping and supporting many of these businesses. Please talk more about this.
I remember going to the Bay Area to visit my family and walking into a grocery store and seeing the products of some of our tenants and I was so excited. I think our buildings are somewhat unassuming, but the reality is they house some incredible businesses that provide products that are sold all over. I find that something to be proud of.
Over the years we’ve had some businesses come and go but we really haven’t had a lot of turn over. That certainly speaks to the dedication and the hard work of our tenants and their employees but also to the partnership we share with them. As property managers we do our best to maintain the property so that these businesses are safe, clean, and well-maintained. We recognize that if we don’t take care of the property, the property won’t be able to take care of our tenants, so we take the management side of our property seriously.
Whenever I hear something about supporting “Local Small Businesses” it’s my hope they also think of the south side of Ashland and our tenants. To that end, I would encourage Ashland residents to look for Flower of Life Crystals (who retail downtown in their little shop inside the mall there on the plaza), Sappo Hill Soap, Inesscents, Wilderness Poets, Joerns, WorkSharp Tools, and Scharffen Berger Chocolate. Most of these products can be found in most of the local grocery stores as well as online.
Who else will be here at IPCO Commercial Properties? Time will tell.
This is one of the magical qualities of Ashland. We are a community that goes out into the world.
Yes, and that is part of the reason why I wanted to do this article. I not only wanted to promote IPCO Commercial Properties, but I also wanted to shine some light on our tenants and the rest of the businesses on the south side of town.
Right here in plain sight, we have a pretty unique opportunity at IPCO Commercial Properties for anyone who might be looking to expand their business or knows of someone who might be in the market to do so.
Maybe there’s someone reading the LocalsGuide right now (yes, you!) who’s here visiting Ashland and has discovered what the rest of us already know … that it’s a special place worthy of setting up shop and calling it home.
We believe it’s important to Ashland’s success that we have strong businesses here that help our economy grow and bring jobs to our community. That is why we’ve developed the property at IPCO Commercial Properties so that entrepreneurs can have a place to call their own.
Trina, many of your employees had worked for Independent Printing Company for most of their lives, and in 2016 you had to make a big shift.
Yes. That was a very hard decision my uncle Kurt had to make. Times were changing as was/is the printing industry and he had to choose between keeping up or closing shop.
So many factors went into his decision to shift from printing to full-time commercial property management, but the writing was on the wall. We had been in Ashland for almost 50 years and not only had we been providing printing services to our community, but we had been providing jobs to 50 +/- employees as well, and we took all that responsibility seriously. Not only were we closing the business, but we knew we were also saying goodbye to friends and family.
Overall it was 106 years and four generations that my family was in the printing business, and during all of it my family took great pride in providing quality work, as well as a livable wage for our employees and their families. That was a lot to let go of.
You yourself grew up here in Ashland, worked in your family printing business in one way or another, and now are the property manager for IPCO Commercial Properties. What are some of the biggest changes you have seen and what do you hope to see in our community?
The path I took to get here was a bit circuitous. Growing up I worked in the bindery department during the summers and later in sales but despite it all, I just didn’t see my future in printing. I had graduated from SOU years prior, had a family and was back at SOU in the master’s program looking to start a career in teaching. Still, I was curious as to what would become of IPCO and as the doors to the printing company were closing, I started the conversation with my father Zach and eventually with Kurt and Lisa and together we decided to focus on the property development and management side of IPCO.
Because I grew up here, I can honestly say I have seen Ashland go from flourishing to struggling and my hope is that we’ll flourish again. It’s no secret that years ago several of Ashland’s elementary schools closed and to me that was a sign that things were changing. Friends I grew up with, who loved Ashland, were moving away to find better paying jobs and not all were happy about it. They did it because they didn’t know what else to do to make ends meet here and I think that’s still the case today.
It is for this reason that I hope IPCO Commercial Properties can provide a place of employment for our community. Instead of closing the doors to our elementary schools I’d love to see them reopen. To me that would mean that young families (or anyone for that matter) were finding it possible to make a living here once again and that’s an important piece in Ashland’s long-term viability.
Like in my childhood, I’d love to see kids safely riding bikes in town to gather at Daniel Meyer Pool to go swimming and to go downtown to get ice cream and enjoy a day in the park. It seems a bit cliché to say it, but I do long for our community to re-invent itself so that it holds the same qualities and characteristics I once had as a child growing up here in the 80’s and 90’s.
Trina, please talk more about the goals that were set and achieved with IPCO Commercial Properties.
Without really knowing it, I would say that there has been this thread of “helping others” that links our printing company to our commercial properties. It’s not obvious but as someone who has sat through many meetings with my team, I would share that a lot of thought has gone into how our buildings can best serve our community. We want to see Ashland thrive and for people to have a place where they can build a successful business. With the development of three more buildings, our industrial park (at least that which sits on the south side of Independent Way) is now complete.
Over the years I’ve come across old plans and designs that my grandfather Elton and father Zach had mapped out for the property. Some of those worked out, whereas others were tossed out, but all in all I think we’ve finished this phase of development in a way that even my great grandfather Charlie would be proud of.
A lot of thought and consideration went into designing these buildings. Can you speak more about this process?
It’s incredibly challenging to design a space when you don’t really know who will occupy it, but we’ve done our best to at least provide a solid foundation to begin with. Thanks to JB Steel Construction, the buildings are built solid. They are sprinkled, well-insulated with LED lighting, heat, roll up doors, ample amounts of power and so much more.
But I would say that getting to this point has had its fair share of challenges. We had just begun construction in 2020 on another building at the back of the property while at the same time the City had begun construction on Independent Way, a road that goes through the middle of our property. There was a flurry of activity just getting started and then Covid hit along with the Almeda fire. We had been working on these projects for so many years and had already broken ground when the pandemic hit, and it really wasn’t an option for us to quit.
Back in 1958, our original printing company in Richmond, California burned to the ground so although this wasn’t the same, this has certainly been another challenging time for IPCO. We had to order these two newly constructed buildings, now located off Independent Way, almost a year and half before they even arrived at our site. To that end, we had to find a way to keep going, and we have, but admittedly I’m glad to be on the other side of this project.
Our commercial site hosts buildings that are simple but versatile. Having good truck access right off I-5 makes our property especially ideal. It’s been fun to watch a project we’ve worked on for over 10 years finally come to fruition. Still, the dream isn’t complete until we are able to turn over the keys to other businesses so that they can then launch their dreams here as well.
Your commercial park has several very successful businesses currently shipping goods out all around the country.
Yes, we are very proud to provide space for Ashland’s DMV, Flower of Life Crystals, Sappo Hill Soap, Inesscents Aromatic Botanicals, Wilderness Poets, Joerns, Scharffen Berger Chocolate and WorkSharp. Everyone that works at these businesses are wonderful people, and they provide some incredible products. I hope everyone will continue to support them.
But again… There’s more opportunity for someone else here at IPCO Commercial Properties and we’re looking forward to finding out who that might be!
As you mentioned above, your commercial property stretches along Tolman Creek Road from the railroad track intersection near Goodwill and down to the DMV and back along Independent Way. What type of spaces do you currently have available for lease on your property?
As mentioned, one of the large warehouses in the middle of the property and the spaces along the railroad tracks are all full of some wonderful businesses. However, what we do have available for lease are the two newly constructed buildings off Independent Way as well as the old Print building there at the corner of Tolman Creek and Independent Way.
In this ideal location just off I-5 and exit 14, IPCO Commercial Properties offers premier metal buildings for lease with high clear ceiling heights for pallet stacking, sprinkled fire suppression, industrial grade power, large semi-truck access and private/reserved off-street parking. Flexible E-1 zoning allows for many uses including office, retail, light manufacturing, warehouse, and distribution uses.
Our new building located at 2346 Independent Way is 17,858 sf with a 22’ ceiling height and the other new building at 2330 Independent Way is 9,919 sf with a 18’ ceiling height. The old Print building at 640 Tolman Creek Rd is 34,265 sf with an 18’ + ceiling height and a new loading dock.
All of these buildings are divisible with roll up doors, sprinkled, heated, LED lighting and ample power available. Those within the marijuana or hemp industries will not be considered.
More information about our business and these properties can be found at:
www.ipcocommercialproperties.com
https://www.loopnet.com/Listing/640-Tolman-Creek-Rd-Ashland-OR/27432141/
Instagram: ipco_commercial_properties_
Trina, when your family first moved to the Rogue Valley, they all moved into and lived in a tiny house that remains to this day behind the DMV. Please say more.
Oh my gosh yes! We call that the Ranch House because to us, that’s exactly what it was. I don’t know how my family did it really. My parents, aunt and uncle along with their new baby (my cousin Lisa) and my grandfather, all lived in that funky little house AND worked together at the printing company. I can’t imagine doing that. Still, they were dedicated to making the business succeed so they did what they needed to make that happen.
I remember having horses and cattle there. Tolman was a dirt road, and the mill was still operating just over the tracks so at times you could smell the timber and hear the logging trucks go by. My cousins and I would practice driving in that field along Tolman Creek by the DMV and behind the printing company when that too was still a field while our parents would BBQ off the back deck. To this day, not much has changed inside that house either. It’s kind of a little time capsule with original wallpaper, cabinets etc. At one time, my kids said it reminded them of the little house in the movie “Up” where everything is growing up around it.
Trina, thanks so much for taking the time to do this interview with us today. Do you have any last thoughts or comments you would like to share?
Thanks for this opportunity to share our story and to help us get the word out about the commercial spaces we have available for lease along with the small businesses we already have here. These are small but mighty businesses that bring so much to our community and are worthy of recognition. On behalf of my team, I would say that we are continuously impressed with our tenants and all that they do. As I drive through our property, I often see tenants standing outside talking with one another and I see them collaborating on social media. Because of these things, I think that in a way, we’ve yet again formed a kind of family here at IPCO Commercial Properties and I love that. Whenever someone says “Support Local” or “Support Small Businesses” it is my hope they think of those of us on the south side of Ashland as well. The reality is that IPCO is also a locally owned small business and I hope that whenever someone is considering their need for commercial space that they think of us as well. We will do our best to help make your dreams a reality.
Learn More:
IPCO Commercial Properties
Tolman Creek Road & Independent Way
www.ipcocommercialproperties.com
Instagram: @ipco_commercial_properties_
541-621-4151
