Anaheim is known the world over for Disneyland, the Mighty Ducks hockey team and even the Anaheim Angels baseball team. But technology?
In the shadow of the Matterhorn and the Big A, Anaheim hosts a small but lively tech sector. Sure, it’s not Irvine, but city officials hope to make Anaheim more attractive to tech companies. They recently completed installation of a 50-mile fiber-optic network that goes almost everywhere in the city and allows for the speedy flow of data that Internet and other companies crave.
The most popular area of the city for tech companies is on the eastern side in the 2,645-acre Anaheim Canyon Business Center. The Canyon, as locals call it, was the first major industrial area in the county. Defense contractor North American Aviation, which was taken over by Rockwell International Inc. and now is part of Boeing Co., has long anchored the area. Seattle-based Boeing’s missile defense, communications, electronics and other businesses employ 3,700 people.
“That’s mostly engineering and R & D;,” said Cynthia Taylor’s, Boeing’s spokeswoman for Anaheim.
New economy tech businesses are concentrated around La Palma Avenue, a major boulevard in the eastern area of the Canyon. Among the notables: MTI Technology Inc., Canada’s Cinram International Inc., electronics maker Murrieta Circuits and Multi-fine Line Electronix Inc., a maker of flexible circuit boards that recently leased an additional 90,000 square feet of space.
“They are just growing like a weed and may even need more space,” said Brian Corrigan, brokerage vice president at Voit Commercial Brokerage.
The Anaheim Technology Center is a 650,000-square-foot complex within the Canyon recently completed by Kilroy Realty Corp. and Koll Development Co. Boeing quickly took up most of the space at the high-tech park. Other tenants include New York-based computer products distributor Targus Inc. and Anaheim-based Anello Corp., an engineering firm that specializes in control systems design and manufacturing for trains and medical applications.
The Anaheim Technology Center was “100% leased upon construction,” Corrigan said.
Another emerging area is near Edison International Field, home to the Angels. It counts APW Custom Systems, a maker of casings and wire harnesses for computers that’s part of Butler, Wis.-based Applied Power Inc. Hewlett Packard Co. recently moved its sales office from Fullerton to the stadium area.
Anaheim’s third tech spot is on the western side of the city. That’s where Tulsa, Okla.-based Williams Communications Group Inc. has a fiber-optic switching station. Other telecommunications companies also have big facilities in Anaheim, including SBC Communications Inc.’s Pacific Bell, AT & T; Corp. and Global Crossing Ltd.
Anaheim, one of the county’s oldest cities, has been trying to attract tech companies for a number of years. As cities such as Irvine and Aliso Viejo know, tech companies provide higher-paying jobs and they make big investments in areas where they do business.
Anaheim economic development officials have seen the good job done by the Irvine Co. in marketing its Irvine Spectrum tech park and are trying to push the Canyon as a smaller version.
Anaheim, observers say, has much of what it needs to be a high tech center: demographics, nearby freeways, access to capital, a variety of buildings, fiber-optic links and a skilled workforce.
One of its biggest advantages is that it’s usually 20% cheaper to lease in Anaheim than in Irvine and southern OC. Rent for research and development space is 69 cents a square foot in North County, vs. 87 cents a foot in South County, according to Voit.
But Anaheim has a long way to go before it catches up with Irvine and other OC tech hubs, if it can at all. The city, which is downright gritty in some places, isn’t as glamorous as Irvine, home to most of OC tech companies. Irvine-based Broadcom Corp. boasts the largest market capitalization of any OC company at around $31 billion. By comparison, the biggest publicly traded company based in Anaheim is clothing retailer Pacific Sunwear of California Inc., with a more modest $425 million market cap. The biggest tech company by market cap is data storage products maker MTI Technology at $268 million. Anaheim’s other big tech name, Odetics Inc., has a $105 million market cap.
“Anaheim is an emerging high-tech center, but it’s still not a large base,” said Rick Ellison, a commercial broker for Cushman & Wakefield. Still, he said, “There are plenty of high-tech companies kicking the tires in Anaheim. It’s improvement from the past.”
Even Anaheim’s big selling point,its fiber-optic network,isn’t without a qualifier. The city is suing San Diego-based FirstWorld Communications in a dispute over how the company manages the network for the city.
And, like other cities, Anaheim has handicaps. Tech executives tend to congregate near their peers. They start up companies near where they live. Brokers said they are seeing some start-ups in Anaheim in cases where the entrepreneur lives in the area.
Tech executives also are concerned about attracting and keeping valued employees see related story page 31). Because most of the county’s tech companies are south of Anaheim, so is much of their worker pool. For many, a commute to Anaheim would be a tough sell for employees who live in South County.
But Anaheim’s other drawbacks are things the city can do little about. It lacks an airport and a major university, two things that are key to big tech centers.
And Anaheim has lost its share of tech companies to South County and elsewhere. Last month, Scotts Valley-based disk drive maker Seagate Technology Inc. said it plans to close its 600-person plant in Anaheim because the location can’t compete with low-cost suppliers abroad. Not only is Anaheim losing a lot of jobs in the move, it’s also losing a marquee tech industry name.
Fujitsu Business Communications Systems, a manufacturer of phones and related products that’s part of Japan’s Fujitsu Ltd., is looking to leave Anaheim because it cannot find enough space. That’s part of Anaheim’s trouble: unlike other cities, it’s largely built out. Fujitsu recently sold its 164,000-square-foot Anaheim building to Newport Beach-based real estate investor The Hamilton Co. City officials are trying to keep the company in Anaheim.
Still, Cushman & Wakefield’s Ellison said some the Fujitsu space isn’t likely to sit empty for long. Some large tech companies are looking at the 11.2-acre site.
“We’ve had quite a bit of interest in it,” he said. n
