Boeing Co. plans to shut down and sell its sprawling operations in Anaheim and move about 3,700 employees to its Huntington Beach site.
The move from Anaheim is expected to take four years. The company said it plans to start “significant’ employee relocations in 2007 and continue until 2010.
Boeing has a massive 1.5 million square feet in Anaheim, one of its largest sites in California. The company’s operations are the centerpiece of Anaheim’s industrial corridor along La Palma Avenue near the Riverside (91) Freeway.
Irvine-based Boeing Realty Corp., which has rezoned and sold off other company land in Huntington Beach, Seal Beach and elsewhere, will handle the sale of the Anaheim site.
The company said it is working with the city of Anaheim “to redevelop the property in a manner that maximizes its economic benefit, both for Boeing and the community.”
“This plan provides a strong foundation for long-term stability and competitiveness,” said Gary Toyama, vice president of the Southern California region for Boeing Integrated Defense Systems. “Our vision is to integrate and optimize our capabilities to meet customer requirements.”
The Anaheim operation, which came by way of Boeing’s 1990s buy of the defense business of what was Rockwell International Corp., is home to some of the military’s more high-tech programs, including the joint tactical radio system,an effort to help unify radios used by the military,and the combat survivor evader locator, which boosts communications for rescue missions.
Workers at the site also handle some submarine and missile defense programs. Anaheim had as many as 36,000 workers in the 1960s before manufacturing was shipped to lower-cost areas and the focus was shifted to engineering.
