The Port of Portland has approved a long-term ground lease with ZAUGG Timber Solutions (ZTS) to build and operate a new mass timber modular factory at the Port’s Mass Timber and Housing Innovation Campus at Terminal 2.
ZTS is a key anchor tenant at the campus, where the Port is transforming a former marine terminal in Portland’s Northwest industrial area into a manufacturing hub. The campus will support Oregon’s growing mass timber industry, create new jobs and small-business opportunities, and help address the region’s housing shortage.
The new 100,000-square-foot manufacturing facility is expected to open in early 2028. ZTS will begin producing mass timber modular housing units, industrial and commercial buildings, and other prefabricated mass timber building components even sooner – as early as 2026 – in an interim manufacturing facility.
“Our investment plans are a recognition of the incredible work already done to build the mass timber economy of the Pacific Northwest. We hope we can be a small part of it by contributing our hard-won expertise around affordable modular and prefabricated mass timber elements,” said Stephan Zaugg, Chairman of the company.
The factory will be among the first of its kind in the United States to produce mass timber modular and prefabricated housing units and commercial buildings at such a large scale.
The facility will ramp up to 60 employees while supporting an estimated 135 total jobs throughout the region, including at mills and suppliers that hire additional staff to meet the new demand.
ZTS is also working with Pacific Northwest tribes and local businesses. The company’s longstanding partnership with the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation includes joint training, prototyping and manufacturing. ZTS will require multiple suppliers of cross-laminated timber (CLT) and glulam to complete its prefabricated structures and looks forward to cooperating with local manufacturers as their facilities come online.
ZTS is the North American affiliate of the ZAUGG group of companies, which have manufactured prefabricated buildings since 1936.
