Huntington Beach-based airplane parts and systems maker C&D Zodiac is expanding its Orange County operations into Cypress with an 85,773-square-foot building.
The building, situated at 11240 Warland Drive, will house manufacturing for Airbus’ planned A350 aircraft. The site also will feature offices for its customer support and after-market divisions that are being consolidated from other local operations.
C&D is responsible for engineering, certifying and building lavatories for the European aircraft maker’s latest model, which is set to debut late next year.
“We’re excited about this opportunity and what Cypress means to our future,” said project manager Tom Peng, who will run the new facility.
Financial details of the seven-year lease weren’t disclosed.
Construction began about a month ago to create office space, stock rooms and machine shops, and run electric and air lines throughout the building. C&D expects to move into the new location in early December.
250 Workers
The expansion is expected to bring some 250 employees to the North OC city, with a mix of mostly transfers and some new hires. About 110 of the workers are attached to the Airbus project, which is expected to ramp up in the coming years as domestic and international carriers upgrade fleets.
C&D is the third largest aerospace and defense contractor in Orange County with some 2,000 local employees and more than 17,500 companywide. It has more than $400 million in annual revenue.
Its other customers include Brazilian Embrear SA, Bombardier Inc. in Quebec and Chicago-based Boeing Co.
The company is part of France-based Zodiac Aerospace, one of the world’s largest aerospace systems and parts manufacturers with $4 billion-plus in annual sales and operations in more than 100 locations.
C&D designs commercial and military aircraft cabin fixtures, including overhead bins and cabin lighting.
The company has done machining and retrofit work on Airbus planes at its two Garden Grove facilities.
The company has designed aircraft interiors and made storage bins, lavatories and other products in Huntington Beach.
C&D was established in 1972, growing from a supplier of interior components into an integrated interior systems provider. Its manufacturing capabilities extend from raw material fabrication to final assembly.
The company also has operations in Santa Maria, La Palma, Ontario, Carlsbad, San Diego, Washington, France, Brazil and Canada.
Brokers involved in the leasing deal included Lee & Associates Commercial Real Estate Services’ Frank Adler and Jeff Hirsch.
Adler and Hirsch represented the tenant while Klabin Co. represented the landlord, Warland Investments Co.
The space had been previously leased by PerkinElmer Inc., a Waltham, Mass.-based biomedical and device maker that sees about $1.9 billion in annual revenue. n
