Liberty Lake Draws Cabletron

A company that has operated a telephone-sales office in Post Falls for nearly a decade is moving into a 12,600-square-foot Liberty Lake office building next month.

Cabletron Systems Inc., a New Hampshire-based maker of hardware and software for computer networks, signed a 10-year lease on a facility at 23305 E. Knox. The property is owned by the California-based Clifford Living Trust.

Aaron Reilly, Cabletron’s West Coast regional sales manager, said about 80 percent of Cabletron’s 93 area employees live in Washington. He said the move to Liberty Lake is being made, in part, because Washington state does not tax personal income.

At its peak, Cabletron employed about 200 at its Post Falls call center. But since 1997, the company has not been profitable, posting a loss of $240 million for its fiscal year that ended in February.

The red ink has prompted the company to trim its work force.

Reilly said the Post Falls call center accounted for about 20 percent of Cabletron’s $1.41 billion in sales last year.

The company has modest short-term expansion plans and may add five to 15 new jobs when it moves to Liberty Lake, he said. Reilly said Cabletron eventually wants to build its work force back to 1997 levels. The Liberty Lake Center site has room to expand.

Bob Potter, president of the Idaho economic development group Jobs Plus, said the impact of Cabletron moving across the state line will be minimal.

Additionally, Potter said two California companies are planning to move into the space in the Riverbend Commerce Park that Cabletron is vacating.

Potter declined to name the companies or say exactly what they do.

“They are going to fill the space, but they are not large employers,” he said.

The Riverbend Commerce Park management also declined to reveal the names of the two prospective tenants, noting leases have yet to be signed.