Office Products Firm Avery Moving to Brea
Pasadena-based office products giant Avery Dennison Corp. is moving 500 employees to a new five-story office building in Brea from several locations throughout Southern California, the company said Wednesday.
Developer Olen Properties Corp. of Newport Beach has agreed to build an office building for Avery as well as an adjacent 131,000-square-foot building near Lambert Drive and the Orange Freeway. The firm signed a seven-year, $19.5-million lease and will move when the building is completed next spring.
For the record:
12:00 a.m. June 13, 1997 For the Record
Los Angeles Times Friday June 13, 1997 Orange County Edition Business Part D Page 3 Financial Desk 2 inches; 36 words Type of Material: Correction
Avery move--Avery Dennison Corp. is keeping its corporate headquarters in Pasadena. A story and headline in Thursday’s Times incorrectly characterized the company’s current effort to move 500 of its workers in Southern California to new offices in Brea.
Avery is moving the headquarters of its billion-dollar office products group from Diamond Bar. It also will move employees from facilities in Azusa, Ontario and its corporate headquarters in Pasadena.
“We wanted to move into one space and we didn’t want to lose any of our employees,” said John S. Day, the company’s real estate director.
The company’s decision to move to a new building rather than lease existing offices underscores the shrinking availability of top quality office space in the area and the lack of buildings large enough to accommodate major companies, brokers said. The company had looked in the San Gabriel Valley and as far south as Orange.
“Larger tenants are having a harder time finding space,” said Cushman Realty Corp.’s Rick Kaplan, who represented Avery in the deal. “There are very few buildings of that size in the area.”
Brea’s office market has fared better than most North County cities in recent years, as companies have consolidated spread-out Southern California operations there.
Construction will start on the two glass and granite office buildings in coming weeks after the company obtains building permits from the city, Olen President Igor Olenicoff said. The twin structures, the first office buildings to be built in North County in several years, will take nine months to build and will have a price tag of $28.5 million.
Unlike most developers, Olenicoff will not take on a partner or take out a loan to build this project, using Olen funds instead. The new buildings are part of his Olen Pointe office complex.
He agreed to build the second office building within 90 days of the first so that Avery can have room to expand, if needed. Avery will have right of first refusal to lease space in the second structure.
“Over the next three years, we will probably grow by around 10% to 12%,” said Stephanie Streeter, Avery group vice president. When that happens, she said, the company doesn’t want to move again.
Avery is the second large company to announce plans to move operations to Brea this year. Previously, BankAmerica Corp., said it would move about 2,500 employees to a vacant facility owned by the company.
The new office buildings are just one of several office and industrial projects that speculative developer Olenicoff is launching in Southern California after a long absence.
Olenicoff, who had developed more than 50 buildings here during the 1970s and 1980s, shifted his attention to developing apartment complexes in Las Vegas and south Florida when he saw the local market approaching its peak in the late 1980s.
As the Southern California real estate market rebounds, Olenicoff plans to begin pouring more money into projects here. Another of his companies, Olen Development, recently began construction on the first phase of a 30-acre 500,000-square-foot research and development park called Spectrum Pointe in Irvine off Bake Parkway. Five buildings are planned for the initial phase.
Olenicoff has started developing a new paint facility for Gulfstream at Long Beach International Airport. He also is negotiating with a South County landowner for two parcels to build a 120,000-square-foot business park.
“We now see Southern California as our main focus,” Olenicoff said. “The demand is back in a strong way and we anticipate filling as much of it as possible.”
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A Very Big Catch
Brea will gain a major new employer when Avery Dennison Corp. arrives next spring. A quick look at the company and where it will rank among the city’s biggest employers:
Avery Dennison Worldwide Office Products Group
Headquarters: Consolidating all Southern California offices to new quarters in Brea
Parent company: Avery Dennison Corp., Pasadena
Group vice president: Stephanie R. Streeter
Business: Develops and manufactures office supplies such as labels, indexes, binders, presentation products, markers, adhesives and paper products
Employees: 6,000 worldwide, including 500 relocating to Brea
Brea’s Largest Employers
Beckman Instruments Inc.: 1,100+
Harte-Hanks Communications Pennysaver Group: 1,000+
American Funds Service Co.: 1,000+
Bank of America-Consumer Loan Division: 1,000+
Capital Group: 900
Kirkhill Rubber Co: 700
Albertsons Distribution Center: 671
Brea Olinda Unified School District: 600
CNA Insurance Co.: 600
Mercury Insurance Group: 600
Avery Dennison Worldwide Office Products Group: 500
Sources: Brea Chamber of Commerce, Avery Dennison Corp.
