tier Nears Fullerton Move, Plans Growth
By VITA REED
Frontier Medical Inc., a distributor of medical rehabilitation devices, is set to move from Pico Rivera to a Fullerton building left vacant by the implosion of Anaheim-based KPC Medical Management Inc.
The company plans to occupy 16,000 square feet of a 22,000-square-foot building at 1401 S. Brookhurst St., formerly home to bankrupt KPC’s Friendly Hills Medical Group.
Frontier hopes to move into the building in the next two months, said Matt Bock, the company’s president and a Fullerton resident.
Frontier paid $1.73 million for the building and is spending another $1 million on renovations, Bock said. All of Frontier’s workers,corporate, billing, collections and distribution staff,are set to move into the Fullerton site.
Bock said he plans to grow Frontier’s staff of 75 once the company gets settled.
“No question, we will be adding 50 employees within the next 12 months,” he said.
Bock said the biggest issue in wanting to move was parking.
“We’re in industrial space now; it’s hard to find enough parking,” he said.
The Fullerton building has about 100 parking spaces.
Location also was a factor.
“We’re just north of the 91 (Riverside Freeway),” he said, adding that workers will have easier access to customers in Los Angeles, Orange County, Riverside and the beach cities. Frontier distributes its medical devices, in part, by visiting physician offices and medical centers.
Frontier was started in 1986. Bock and partner Steven Kay own the privately held company. Bock declined to disclose financial details.
The company is described by Bock as “a pain management company,we specialize in patients with acute and chronic pain problems” who receive healthcare through the workers’ compensation system.
Frontier gets patients from physicians and workers’ compensation insurance companies, he said.
Frontier plans to sublet 6,000 square feet of the building.
“We don’t need the street,” Bock said.
The building, which was designed and built by Philadelphia-based Cigna Corp., has room to expand another 12,000 square feet.
Friendly Hills and KPC filed for bankruptcy protection in late 2000.
Represented by Irvine-based Lee & Associates Commercial Real Estate Services, Frontier bought the property from TROL Realty LLC, which was represented by Santa Ana-based Healthwest Realty Advisors.
