Power Rangers Maker Moving U.S. Office to Cypress

Bandai America Inc., maker of the top-selling Mighty MorphinPower Rangers toys and other children’s products, said it plans to move its U.S. headquarters from Cerritos to Cypress next year.

The company, a division of Tokyo-based Bandai Company Ltd., said it plans to build a three-story, 57,000-square-foot office building on 8 1/2 acres of vacant land in the Cypress Business Park. Construction is scheduled to begin in the fall, and company officials say they expect the project to be completed by October, 1996.

Sammie Plessel, director of human resources for Bandai, said the rapidly expanding company has outgrown the offices it has occupied for five years on 166th Street in Cerritos. When complete, the new building will house 122 employees handling mostly administrative tasks, including design, marketing and accounting.

No manufacturing or distribution will take place at the site, Plessel said. The company’s products, including the wildly popular action figures based on the “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers” television program, are manufactured at 16 plants in Asia, Mexico and other locations, she said.

Bandai obtained final approval for the project from the Cypress City Council on Monday. City officials said Bandai is a welcome addition to the Cypress Business Park, an 800-acre site already home to Sony, Mitsubishi, Panasonic and other Japanese manufacturing companies.

The land, located in the 5500 block of Katella Avenue, was previously owned by a group that included the McDonnell Douglas Corp., city officials said. Bandai also intends to keep its Cerritos offices, where 35 employees are currently based, Plessel said.