THOUSAND OAKS : Computer Firm May Move Headquarters

Packard Bell Corp., the nation’s fourth-largest seller of personal computers, is considering moving its headquarters to Thousand Oaks.

The company now works out of several different buildings in Chatsworth and is looking to consolidate its operations and bring all 1,500 employees to a single campus, a spokeswoman for the company said.

Packard Bell executives are considering several sites in Southern California and also out of state, spokeswoman Liz O’Donnell said.

“They are not close to making a decision,” she said.

But Thousand Oaks Finance Director Bob Biery said he expects Packard Bell to settle on a new location within a month. The computer manufacturer has been investigating two sites in Thousand Oaks, including the old Northrop facility in Newbury Park, Biery said.

“We’ve had some discussions with them about coming here,” Biery said.

He refused to discuss whether the city would offer an incentive package to Packard Bell.

“I can’t indicate that,” Biery said. “Negotiations are at a very delicate point right now.”

The Northrop facility includes four major buildings, with a total of 670,000 square feet of space. About half of the 100-acre campus is undeveloped. The aerospace company manufactured missiles and unmanned space vehicles there for nearly 30 years, before closing down in 1991.

Northrop spokesman Jim Hart said his company has “been talking to interested parties for quite some time” about selling the Newbury Park space.

He would not confirm that Packard Bell has been negotiating with Northrop.