Perhaps 99 Cents Only Stores thought it could save a buck by moving its headquarters from Commerce to Orange County.
The discount retailer has leased a 40,000-square-foot office at Flight at Tustin Legacy, a 39-acre office campus at 1730 Flight Way in Tustin, the Orange County Register reported.
The three-year-old, mixed-use campus, owned by LPC West, a unit of Dallas-based Lincoln Property, will contain 870,000 square feet of offices on the site of the former Marine Corps Air Station.
99 Cents Only is now working on the build-out of its new headquarters on the ground floors of two separate buildings on the southern campus along Barranca Parkway.
The headquarters relocation comes after a 2019 recapitalization for the firm, which included a $34 million cash infusion by partial owner Ares Management and other institutional investors. Ares and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired 99 Cents in 2012.
In 2020, 99 Cents named former Cost Plus Chief Executive Barry Feld to head the company as CEO.
99 Cents Only Stores, founded in 1982, initially offered all its goods at 99 cents or less. The discount retailer counts more than 50 stores in Orange County and 384 stores across California, Texas, Arizona and Nevada.
Its new Tustin office will serve as a corporate base for 200 employees, unidentified sources told the Business Journal, including the executives, personnel, administrative and sales divisions.
It’s not clear when the 99 Cents Only will pull up stakes from its longtime hub in Los Angeles County.
Flight’s initial phase of development, eight buildings comprising 470,000 square feet, is 95 percent leased, according to Parke Miller, executive vice president of Lincoln Property.
Other tenants include Virgin Galactic Holdings and ART Furniture & Design, with moves on the way by architecture firm WATG, Liberty Dental Plan of California and JustFoodforDogs, according to the newspaper.
— Dana Bartholomew
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