Big change is in the works for an Anaheim icon,the office and distribution campus of CKE Restaurants Inc.’s Carl’s Jr., which got its start in the city in 1945.
The 17-acre campus alongside the Riverside (91) Freeway could see redevelopment with a new office building for Carl’s Jr. as well as shops.
Another option could see the company move to new offices in the area with homes and stores taking over the entire campus.
One change is set. The 103,000-square-foot distribution center that takes up half the site is set to close soon.
Distribution operations are slated to move to an Ontario facility starting in October.
Parent CKE Restaurants, which moved its headquarters in 2002 from the Anaheim site to Carpinteria, is following the eastward migration of other companies that have shifted warehouses to the Inland Empire.
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Carl’s Jr. offices: 30 years old, outgrown |
Land Owned by Carl Karcher
The company and retired founder Carl Karcher, who owns the land, are debating redevelopment plans for the Anaheim site.
The campus, which employs about 500 workers, has been home to Carl’s Jr. operations for the past 30 years.
Warehouses and truck parking take up about half of the site on Carl Karcher Way. That leaves a lot of room for redevelopment and the possibility of expansion once the operation moves to Ontario, CKE spokeswoman Anne Hallock said.
The distribution center opened in 1978.
CKE would like to see a new office building for the company at the site, replacing the existing 78,000-square-foot one already there.
Stores and restaurants could go up on the rest of the land.
Another option: joining the trend of turning longtime office and industrial space into urban-style housing, along with shops.
Homes More Lucrative
Selling the land to homebuilders could fetch twice as much an acre for Karcher, who couldn’t be reached for comment.
Redevelopment could include condominiums or apartments.
Selling the land for housing likely would force Carl’s Jr. to find a new home for its local offices. The company is looking for a nearby replacement site, which it would lease, Hallock said.
The plan is to redevelop the Anaheim site within two years, said Kyle Olson, a broker with Newport Beach-based Professional Real Estate Services, a real estate developer and brokerage.
The company, known as Pres, has been hired by Karcher to find the best use for the land.
Karcher holds the title of CKE’s chairman emeritus and is a shareholder and non-voting director. He’s not actively involved with the company anymore.
Son Carl L. Karcher is a director. He and other relatives of the founder run restaurants franchised from CKE.
“The Karcher family wants to hold on to the land forever,” Olson said. “Their preference is to stay there, to develop new office space and to add a large amount of retail. But anything can still happen.”
Karcher is consulting with CKE on the redevelopment. Company officials plan to make a decision on moving or pressing for a new building at the site in the next few weeks, Hallock said.
CKE has outgrown the facility, she said. The distribution center has close to 200 workers. The offices house some 300 people. The buildings are showing their age.
The site holds a lot of history.
Karcher’s wife, Margaret (Heinz) Karcher, was raised there,before the freeway and industrial development,with her 14 brothers and sisters.
Karcher himself opened Carl’s Drive-In Barbeque in Anaheim in 1945, a few years after running hot dog stands in Los Angeles.
First Restaurant
According to Karcher’s biography, Carl’s Drive-In moved to the site of the Anaheim campus after the loss of a lease for the company’s original restaurant across the street.
The company went public in 1981 and began franchising in 1984.
Four years ago, CKE moved to the Santa Barbara area, where former chief executive and chairman William Foley lives. Foley is a director and owns about 5.5% of CKE.
The company kept a sizable part of its operations in Anaheim, including its finance, accounting and technology departments.
