Telmar Network Technology Inc., which adopted a new name in September after several acquisitions, is getting a new building to put it on.
The company, which sells new and refurbished telecommunications and networking gear, plans a March move into 70,000 square feet of space in the Irvine Spectrum. The 10-year lease is valued at $7.7 million.
Telmar currently employs 45 in about 40,000 square feet in three units in the Irvine Business Complex near John Wayne Airport. The buildings are adjacent to each other, but President John Kidwell said Telmar and its industry are expanding and needed breathing room.
“We provide a high-value-added service to the rapidly growing telecommunications industry,” he said. “Our compound growth rate over the past five years has been more than 40%.”
In November, Telmar was named an authorized reseller of new and remanufactured switches, routers and other products from Cisco Systems Inc. Nationally, the company employs more than 200 and pegs sales last year at $150 million.
Kidwell has been with the company about a year. Telmar grew from Telmar Holdings Inc. in Irvine, which in the past two years has acquired a number of businesses: Hitech Corp.’s Plug-In sales unit in West Chester, Penn.; circuit pack reseller Allied Communications of Council Bluffs, Iowa; and Chesapeake Wireless Technologies of Baltimore.
Kidwell expects to hire 10 new employees this year in marketing, sales, testing, engineering and warehouse jobs. When it moves into its new facility, Telmar plans to relocate some $3 million of testing equipment and add another $700,000 in machinery.
“The new space is a corporate headquarters and prime West Coast testing and distribution facility,” he said.
John Griffin, senior vice president with Voit Commercial Brokerage, and Ron Rader of Klabin Co. in Los Angeles represented Telmar on the deal with landlord The Irvine Company.
“It’s brand new space,” Griffin said. “It’s very ‘high-image.'”
Telmar had been in its current location for about six years, in a building that is nearly 20 years old. The new site is “basically right next door to Broadcom,” Griffin said. “It’s just more of everything and better everything,” he said.
Kidwell said Telmar doesn’t sell directly to any local customers, though clients include Verizon Communications and SBC Communications Inc. Kidwell said his is looking to Telmar’s authorized Cisco reseller status for a boost. n
