EPHRATA - Service Steel Inc., based in Portland, Ore., is getting ready to move in to Grant County.

Port of Ephrata Manager Mike Wren announced this summer the steel cutting company was in the process of buying about 100,000 square feet of manufacturing space at the port. The sale went through Friday, he said this week.

Service Steel purchased the two buildings that wind tower manufacturer T Bailey built on port property around 2007, Wren said. Katana Summit occupied the buildings until last year when the company went out of business, he said.

T Bailey then bought the buildings back from Katana and set out to auction the specialized equipment left behind. Service Steel officials initially came to the auction because they were interested in purchasing cranes, Wren said in a previous Columbia Basin Herald article.

They found out the buildings were for sale and expressed interest in buying them, he said.

With the sale now complete, Wren said Service Steel will finalize moving into the space and preparing to ramp up operations.

"They already had some equipment out here, but they didn't want to go further until the sale went through, which it did on Friday," he said.

Wren previously said the company estimated they would start business with about 50 employees.

Service Steel currently operates a 300,000 square-foot facility on Swan Island in Portland, according to the company's website.