Rivian leases 219K sf building under construction in Tustin

Rivian Automotive, the largest electric vehicle maker in Orange County, has inked its largest local industrial lease yet.

The Irvine-based EV company has leased a 219,000-square-foot building now being built at 14451 Myford Road in Tustin, the Orange County Business Journal reported. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The nearly completed building was leased from Panattoni Development, based in Irvine. The lease is among the largest, by volume, in Orange County this year.

By square footage, it’s also the largest to date in OC for Rivian, which now counts a local real estate footprint of nearly 700,000 square feet. That puts Rivian’s real estate presence in the county on a par with Fountain Valley-based Hyundai North America, according to the Business Journal

The new building, Rivian’s third in the area, is near its Irvine headquarters.

Panattoni bought the nearly 7-acre site, located on the Tustin side of Myford Avenue, two years ago for $32.4 million. It has since razed buildings to make way for the new construction, now nearly complete.
Rivian will move into the building in October on a lease that spans three years, according to records.

While the lease may indicate growth, the automaker notified workers this month it would soon lay off 5 percent of its workforce, or 700 workers, according to Bloomberg.

Rivian, which has 14,000 employees, has operations in California, Michigan and Illinois, where its plant operates, as well as a presence in the U.K. and Canada. It employs nearly 2,000 workers in Orange County.

The company, which makes electric pickups and SUVs in addition to delivery vans, had one of the biggest-ever U.S. initial public offerings in November as it became a top challenger to Tesla.

Along with its headquarters, Rivian uses its Irvine and Tustin facilities as a center for vehicle engineering and design, and propulsion and battery system development, it says. Also, it’s opening a manufacturing and distribution center in Torrance in Los Angeles County.

The EV maker, which is beginning to roll out its R1S sport utility vehicle alongside its inaugural R1T pickup truck, is among OC’s most valuable public companies with a market cap of $28 billion.

It also makes electric-powered delivery vans for Amazon.com, one of its largest financial backers. The company expects to produce 25,000 vehicles this year, about half of what it forecast last year.

– Dana Bartholomew

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