Irvine-based Incipio Technologies Inc., a maker of protective cases for iPhones and other consumer electronics devices, is moving its headquarters to the Irvine Spectrum after signing one of the larger leases the area’s seen so far this year.
The company, one of Orange County’s fastest-growing businesses in the past few years, struck a deal to move its headquarters to the Oak Canyon Business Center. The four-building business park is next to Sand Canyon Avenue, just off the Santa Ana (I-5) Freeway.
Incipio will lease about 110,000 square feet of distribution, light manufacturing and office space in a building at 6001 Oak Canyon.
The building, which totals about 161,000 square feet, will serve as the headquarters for Incipio, which employs about 140 people, most of them locally. Its current headquarters is near John Wayne Airport.
The company plans to move into the space early next year after tenant improvements are complete, according to brokers with the Newport Beach office of Grubb & Ellis Co. who worked on the deal.
The lease is an expansion of about 35,000 square feet for Incipio, which has seen business boom the past several years as demand has increased for cases to protect Apple Inc.’s iPhone and similar products.
Incipio also makes protective cases for iPods, iPads, BlackBerrys, other smartphones, laptops and handheld devices. New products the company’s working on include a line of headphones and carrying cases.
Incipio’s best-selling product is an iPhone case made from a blend of materials that it calls “silicrylic”—a mix of silicone and acrylic. They sell for about $25.
Verizon Wireless, AT&T Inc., and T-Mobile USA Inc. sell Incipio’s products at stores and other outlets.
Other retailers carrying Incipio’s products include Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Target Corp., Best Buy Co., Staples Inc., Office Max Inc. and Office Depot Inc.
All told, the company’s products are sold in more than 35,000 stores.
The company also makes a lot of sales online through its own website and others.
Chief Executive Andy Fathollahi started the company out of his parent’s garage in 1999.
Fast Growth
• Headquarters: Irvine
• Founded: 1999
• Business: cases, accessories for cell phones, other electronics
• Yearly revenue: $60 million (2011 estimate)
• Notable: increased size of headquarters with lease at Irvine Spectrum, named to last year’s Fastest-Growing Private Companies list last year
Less than three years ago, Incipio was estimated to be doing under $10 million in annual sales, but the company has seen sales skyrocket the past few years, to more than $20 million in 2010.
The company was recognized last year by the Business Journal as OC’s fifth largest fastest-growing private company (see story on this year’s call for entries, page 5).
The Business Journal estimates Incipio will see close to $60 million in sales this year.
The size of the company’s local operations has mirrored its sales growth.
Incipio’s headquarters have been based out of a 25,000-square-foot office on Barranca Parkway, across the street from the District at Tustin Legacy shopping center. It moved there in 2009.
The company recently added an additional 50,000 square feet in a nearby warehouse on a short-term lease to handle its growth.
The company plans to consolidate its headquarters and warehouse operations at the Oak Canyon building.
Local employees include industrial and graphic designers, mechanical engineers, customer services representatives and software developers, according to the company.
The company’s main headquarters now hold about 40 full-time employees, but plans are in the works to double that number once the move is made, Fathollahi said last week in a call from Hong Kong, where he was meeting with some of the company’s manufacturers.
The new space should allow Incipio enough room for the company’s projected expansion, according to Grubb Senior Vice President Wade Tift, who represented the company in the lease along with colleague Bryon Foss.
The company had looked at moving its distribution operations to the Inland Empire and the Dallas area, but opted staying local thanks to Newport Beach-based Irvine Company, the owner of Incipio’s new headquarters, Fathollahi said.
“We looked at everything,” Fathollahi said.
In the end, “it was a good business decision to stay in Orange County,” he said.
Terms of the seven-year lease weren’t disclosed.
Irvine Co. is marketing the remaining 51,000 square feet of space in the building at a monthly rent of 49 cents per square foot, according to the company’s website.
At the same rate, Incipio’s lease would be valued at about $4.5 million.
Sue Lyle, leasing director of Irvine Co., represented the landlord in the lease.
The Incipio deal is among the largest relocations of a locally based company announced so far this year, according to brokerage data.
Other Relocations
Among other notable relocations, Irvine-based chipmaker Microsemi Corp. said last month it would be moving its headquarters to Aliso Viejo later this year after signing a 109,000-square-foot lease. That deal primarily was for office space.
Incipio’s new headquarters were last used by Meade Instruments, a telescope maker that went through a restructuring in 2008 and 2009.
In early 2009 Meade moved to a smaller Irvine building to cut costs after shifting production to Mexico and Asia.
Meade said in 2009 that it was paying Irvine Co. $1.2 million to get out of its 161,000-square-foot lease at the Oak Canyon facility. The lease originally ran through late 2012.
