German electronics maker Siemens AG has consolidated its local operations by shifting 190 workers to a Cypress office building.
Siemens recently moved into 40,000 square feet of space at Cypress Crossroads on Valley View Street.
The company moved workers from Seal Beach and elsewhere in Cypress.
The workers fall under four Siemens units: medical products, energy and automation, telecommunications and maintenance services.
“The objective wasn’t to eliminate people but bring people of different divisions together in one main place,” said Steve Ames, a broker with USAA Realty Co. who represented Siemens.
Siemens also renewed a lease for about 36,000 square feet at another building down the road from Cypress Crossroads. Combined, Siemens has about 11,000 square feet less than it had before.
The units were leasing about 87,000 square feet of space in Bixby Office Park in Seal Beach and at two other Cypress locations.
The Siemens units with operations in Cypress sometimes work together on contracts with a city or company, said Ken Aurichio, a spokesman for Siemens’ U.S. headquarters in New York.
The company’s communication and medical units worked together on the upgrade of the Century City Doctors Hospital in Los Angeles, according to Aurichio.
The units in Cypress supply air conditioners, security cameras and ID cards, manufacturing equipment and other products and services.
The Siemens lease, and another at Cypress Crossroads by Ford Motor Credit Co., represents a payoff for landlord Makar Properties LLC of Newport Beach.
The real estate investor and developer bought the building two years ago after Japan’s Sony Corp. and Cypress-based PacifiCare Health Systems Inc. had moved out, leaving the building empty.
Sony was there for about five years before moving to another spot on Katella Avenue. PacifiCare moved its operations from Cypress Crossroads to its headquarters nearby.
Much of the building has been empty for the past couple of years. It’s now more than 80% full.
Siemens’ eight-year lease is valued at more than $7 million. The Munich-based company plans to put its name on the top of the building.
Irvine-based Ticon General Contractors “completely rebuilt” the space for Siemens, said Simon Dillon, a broker with CB Richard Ellis Group Inc. who represented Makar.
“They needed a computer room with central air-conditioning and very specific conference room facilities to accommodate their methods of doing business,” he said.
A tenant improvement allowance of $25 per square foot was included in the transaction cost.
Siemens is occupying most of the second floor and the entire third floor of the office building.
The company had been looking at properties within a 15-mile radius of Cypress for over a year, said Hans Mumper, co-broker with USAA Realty.
Ford Motor Credit Co. also leased 20,000 square feet of space at the office park.
The credit unit of automaker Ford Motor Co. consolidated branch operations from Anaheim and Irvine to occupy most of the fourth floor.
The five-year deal is valued at $3.5 million.
Ford has 45 workers at its Cypress office, with no plans to hire more, according to spokeswoman Christine Solie.
