O.C. Rushes to Make Sure Rockwell Stays

Rockwell International Corp. is likely to stay in Orange County after it sells its headquarters--part of Thursday’s $3.2-billion deal with the Boeing Co.--but local politicians and brokers were scrambling anyway to make sure one of the county’s largest companies doesn’t leave.

Boeing said it will take over the Seal Beach headquarters in its acquisition of Rockwell’s defense and aerospace operations.

As part of the deal, Rockwell said it will move its 700 headquarters employees to a new home somewhere in Southern California, leaving open the possibility it could leave Orange County for Los Angeles or other areas.

Still, Rockwell has strong ties here and is unlikely to leave, sources said.

One link is the company’s fast-growing semiconductor systems unit that is based in two four-story Newport Beach buildings on Jamboree Road the company bought in 1995.

It might make good business sense, industry observers said, for Rockwell to remain close to the expanding division, which already has 2,200 workers and also occupies seven floors in one of the twin, 10-story office towers nearby.

Most telling, said brokers, is that the Rockwell unit signed an option earlier this year to buy those twin towers, located on MacArthur Boulevard in Koll Center Newport.

Rockwell Chairman Donald R. Beall is unlikely to move the firm, some said, given that he lives in Corona del Mar and has been very active in local public-private joint ventures, including Orange County’s bankruptcy recovery efforts.

In an interview Thursday, Beall would not say where the firm’s new headquarters might be, but he pointed out that “where I live is not a factor.” He also said that the company’s option agreement on the twin towers at Koll Center “won’t matter in the final choice.”

Others in the county were hopeful Rockwell will stay put.

“I think an executive like Beall will want to be in a vibrant, high-tech area. And Orange County has been very successful for them,” said Michael Meyer, a managing partner with E&Y; Kenneth Leventhal Real Estate Group in Newport Beach, who recently introduced Beall at a local charity event. “There’s a good chance they will stay here.”

Still, representatives from the Orange County Business Council, a trade group, already were negotiating with Rockwell on Thursday to keep the firm here.

“We will do whatever is necessary to keep Rockwell here,” said Orange County Supervisor Marian Bergeson, who was part of the state’s so-called red team that two years ago persuaded Taco Bell Corp. to remain in Orange County. “It’s definitely the kind of company we want to keep here.”

Other business council members were planning a trip to Seattle, where Boeing is based, to pitch the company on other opportunities in the county.

“This is a tremendous opportunity,” said Tim Cooley, the business council’s executive vice president. “They are a new major corporate player for Orange County. If at all possible, we’d like them to take advantage of other opportunities here.”

Area real estate brokers were busy on their cellular phones Thursday, pitching various buildings and possible headquarters sites to Rockwell.

Officials at Foothill Ranch talked to Rockwell executives Thursday about the possibility of buying a portion of the 300 acres available for commercial development at the new community, said Dougall Agan, a Foothill Ranch spokesman.

“Rockwell is an opportunity that a lot of landowners are interested in pursuing,” Agan said.

The Irvine Co., which owns the giant Irvine Spectrum industrial and business center, also is interested in attracting Rockwell, said spokesman Larry Thomas. He said, though, that his company hasn’t had any discussions with Rockwell yet about a headquarters building.

George Economos, a senior vice president with Grubb & Ellis in Newport Beach, said that with the amount of office space now available, it wouldn’t be hard for Rockwell to find the more than 150,000 square feet it needs to house 700 workers.

“I think they will stay in Orange County. They could find what they need right here and they have some rapidly growing divisions,” Economos said. “That Koll Center area would be a prime location--right near the airport.”

Other brokers said that outside Orange County there are buildings in El Segundo that Rockwell might find attractive, such as the Pacific Corporate Towers, which have 500,000 square feet of space available. Rockwell was headquartered in El Segundo before it moved to Seal Beach in 1991.

In addition, Rockwell could build a new headquarters on 79 acres the company still owns in El Segundo, said a Rockwell executive. There are several empty buildings on the site and the company is selling a portion of it, but enough land would remain for a new headquarters, the executive said.

The Rockwell Science Center and the semiconductor research unit, which together house about 600 employees in Thousand Oaks, will be operated jointly by Rockwell and Boeing.