Sharp to Build Regional Office in Huntington

Sharp Electronics Corp. said Monday it will spend $34 million to build a regional headquarters here that will employ 265 and serve as the hub for sales, marketing, service and warehousing operations in the Western United States.

The 539,000-square-foot complex, which includes a warehouse, will be built on a 23.4-acre site at Springdale Street and Bolsa Avenue. The vacant property was purchased from neighboring McDonnell Douglas.

Sharp will be moving from its regional offices in Carson. Two other divisions of the electronics marketing and sales company, including Sharp Digital Information Products Inc., also will move into the new facility, which is to be completed in April 1997.

“This is exactly the type of company we want to bring to Huntington Beach,” Mayor David Sullivan said. The city not only will benefit from the addition of more than 200 high-paying jobs, but also from increased tax revenue, he said.

He described Sharp’s move as a “dividend to our new economic development strategy,” a city plan to attract and retain businesses.

The Huntington Beach site still will provide Sharp with close proximity to the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, the company said, and will accommodate the company’s anticipated rapid growth in sales of consumer electronics and business products.

Sharp Electronics, which is based in New Jersey, is the U.S. sales and marketing subsidiary of Sharp Corp. of Japan, a major manufacturer of consumer electronic products, office equipment and electronic components. The company has U.S. sales of $3.4 billion, and has posted double-digit growth in each of the last three years.

The complex, to be built by Shimizu America Corp., will be completed in two phases. In the first phase, a two-story, 88,000-square-foot office building and a 400,000-square-foot single-story warehouse will be completed. Another 51,000 square feet will be added to the warehouse in the second phase.

Construction is to begin immediately, the company said.