Vivint closing Liberty Lake office less than a year after opening

A Utah call center company that hoped to create 400 jobs in Spokane County is shutting down, nearly a year after moving into offices in Liberty Lake. Vivint Inc. said Tuesday it’s closing the Liberty Lake location on June 27. Company officials didn’t offer an explanation for the closure. They also didn’t say how many workers the company employs here. “All employees are eligible to receive severance, and some employees will be offered the opportunity to relocate to Provo. If of interest, employees are encouraged to apply for other positions with Vivint, and their application will be considered,” a company statement read. Nearly all the area workers were hired to make phone calls to potential customers across the country. Vivint sells automated home security, home monitoring equipment and solar power systems for residences. It was leasing the former ISC-Getronics building at 22425 E. Appleway. The company’s interest in Liberty Lake followed an initial contact from Greater Spokane Incorporated, which identified Vivint as a potential company suited to the workforce and business locations available here, said Eric Patrick, who was at the time a company vice president based in Utah. After visiting Spokane and looking over possible office sites, Patrick said Liberty Lake was selected because of the area’s skilled workforce and strong community support. He said Vivint considered 10 states before choosing Washington. GSI worked with the governor’s office in Olympia and obtained a $150,000 grant to help cover some of Vivint’s cost of locating workers in Liberty Lake. “That’s one of the few economic development tools we have in this state” to use as a relocation or expansion incentive, said Robin Toth, business development director for GSI. Toth noted that many of the company executives she had met or talked with more than a year ago are no longer with the firm, indicating a significant corporate redirection. That likely occurred, she said, because privately held Vivint was acquired by Blackstone Capital for more than $2 billion. “That (kind of shift in focus) has happened with other companies we’ve worked with,” Toth said.