Business software maker Ultimate Software Group Inc. has struck a lease in Santa Ana and plans to open an office with about 50 people this summer.
The company, based in Weston, Fla., near Miami, provides human resources, employment and payroll software to midsize businesses.
Ultimate joins a group of business software makers here that includes Irvine-based Epicor Software Corp., Aliso Viejo’s Quest Software Inc., Costa Mesa’s Syspro Impact Software Inc. and Irvine’s Sage Software Inc., part of Britain’s Sage PLC.
Ultimate Software, which is publicly traded with a recent market value of about $1.4 billion, plans to open its Santa Ana office here in August.
The office is set to include customer support people and those working on Ultimate’s payment software used by companies to process payroll taxes.
Local Executives
The company already has some executives here, including its vice president of payment services, John Stauffer, and a customer service manager, Ted Malley.
Stauffer and Malley are set to be Ultimate’s top local officials.
Orange County is a “logical location for our new office,” Ultimate spokeswoman Jody Kaminsky said.
The company inked a five-year lease for the 12th floor at Santa Ana’s Griffin Towers complex at the San Diego (I-405) and Costa Mesa (55) freeways.
CB Richard Ellis’ Dean Chandler and Justin Hill represented the landlord, while Karen Munroe and Kevin McNeil with the brokerage arm of Dallas-based Lincoln Property Co. represented Ultimate Software.
It’ll get its name on top of its building, which faces the 55 freeway.
Ultimate Software’s Web-based software helps human resources administrators recruit and manage employees and handle benefits, payroll, salary planning and compensation.
It targets midsize companies and some larger ones in banking, finance, insurance, healthcare and utilities.
Customers include Adobe Systems Inc., The Container Store Inc., Elizabeth Arden Inc., Ruth’s Chris Steak House, Major League Baseball and the New York Yankees and Chicago Cubs.
Third Largest Office
The company had some $230 million in sales last year and has 1,100 workers in all.
After Ultimate’s Florida headquarters and buildings it leases in Atlanta, the Santa Ana office is set to be its next largest office, according to the company’s regulatory filings.
The company can fit upward of 100 workers in the space in Santa Ana and is in the process of hiring. A handful of local job op-enings were posted on its website last week.
Ultimate got its start in 1990. It raised $32 million in a 1998 public offering.
It’s run by a pair of brothers, Chief Executive Scott Scherr and Marc Scherr, Ultimate’s vice chairman and chief operating officer. Both are big New York Yankees fans.
Earlier this year, the company quashed rumors it was looking to sell itself after word got out that it hired an investment banker.
The company said in a statement it “has no present intention to engage in a sale.”
Ultimate’s stock has been on a steady upward climb in the past year, like others that make software that helps companies cut down on costs by outsourcing hefty applications to the “cloud.”
The company’s shares are up 50% in the past six months.
