Symbol Technologies Inc., the Holtsville, N.Y.-based maker of bar code readers, has leased a Lake Forest building for $5.4 million and plans to move in November from its current Costa Mesa facility in a bid to make room for planned new hiring in the next few years.
“It’s an expansion for us,” said Keith Kanneg, senior director of marketing and head of the move. “We have a good amount of room for planned growth built into the new plant.”
The company is leaving a 31,000-square-foot Costa Mesa building to move to the 42,000-square-foot facility in Lake Forest’s Palm Terrace project. Much of the expansion will accommodate growth of the company’s product repair facilities from 13,000 square feet to 20,000 square feet.
“Our lease was up and we were looking for a bigger space,” said company spokesman Rob Urban.
The company counts 150 Orange County employees and plans to hire another 15 in the next year.
In OC, the company assembles bar code readers and industrial-strength personal digital assistants and pocket PC’s for use by retail outlets and couriers.
Scott Granger of New York-based Julien J. Studley Inc. represented Symbol in the transaction. Doug Mathews and Gary Allen of Grubb & Ellis’ Newport Beach office represented the landlord, Laguna Niguel-based Birtcher Real Estate Group.
Symbol has been in Orange County since 1989, when it acquired MSI Data, a company that had occupied the Costa Mesa site for 20 years. n
