The cafés and lunch spots along Harbor Avenue SW in West Seattle are about to gain a few hundred new weekday regulars.
Outdoor Research, the 45-year-old technical gear maker, is moving its corporate headquarters from a sprawling SoDo warehouse to a 7,916-square-foot office on the second floor of the Denali building at 1315 Harbor Ave SW, directly across the street from the Don Armeni Boat Ramp.
Early operations are already running in the new space, with electrical permit work underway, according to the West Seattle Herald. The full transition is targeted for late summer 2026.
The move shrinks Outdoor Research's physical footprint dramatically. The company occupied a 114,000-square-foot building at 2203 1st Ave. South since 1995, according to the Puget Sound Business Journal.
That's 31 years in SoDo. The new office is roughly 7% of the old building's size.
Company leadership said a facility assessment of the SoDo property prompted the accelerated timeline, citing employee safety and operational needs.
In a statement reported by Snow Sports News, the company said the West Seattle location provides better infrastructure for its workforce and a setting tied to the Pacific Northwest outdoor lifestyle.
The building's name carries a founder's-story Easter egg. Ron Gregg, a nuclear physicist and mountaineer, started Outdoor Research in 1981 after his climbing partner suffered severe frostbite on Alaska's Denali because of a failed gaiter design. Gregg was killed in a March 2003 avalanche in British Columbia.
Flagship store headed downtown, not West Seattle
Outdoor Research will not open a store at the Harbor Avenue headquarters. Its SoDo flagship, which occupied the ground floor of the old building and drew gear shoppers from across north Seattle including Ballard and Queen Anne, has temporarily closed.
The company says it is scouting high-visibility locations in Seattle's city center for a new flagship retail space, though no address or timeline has been announced.
In the meantime, local shoppers can use OR's online store or visit outlet locations in Des Moines and Bellingham.
What this means for Harbor Avenue
A corporate office workforce on Harbor Avenue would add weekday foot traffic for the corridor's small businesses. The West Seattle Blog reported that readers had noticed construction activity at the Denali building for more than a month before the Aug. 25 announcement.
How many employees will work from the new office remains unclear. Outdoor Research lists 201 to 500 total employees companywide, but the company has not disclosed the West Seattle headcount or named a specific downtown location for its future flagship store.
