Office Depot Eyes Relocation to New 600,000-SF HQ
April 2006
BOCA
RATON, FL-Office Depot Inc. is in the preliminary stages of planning to
relocate from its headquarters in Delray Beach and construct a
600,000-sf global headquarters here on a 28-acre parcel at the
southeast corner of Military Trail and Clint Moore Road. “The decision
is subject to a final economic analysis that includes the receipt of
incentives from the state,” a company’s spokesman tells GlobeSt.com.
He
declined to disclose an estimated cost for a new headquarters.
“Although plans are under way,” he says, “no final agreements for
acquisition of the land that is under consideration or of specific
building specs have been reached.” Nevertheless, he confirms that a
move by 2008 “is anticipated.”
A little more than a year ago,
following a change of CEOs, Office Depot scrapped plans for a
$100-million headquarters facility here at the T-Rex Corporate Center
on Yamato Road, which the interim CEO considered too expensive. A new
chairman and CEO, Steve Odland, took over the reigns in March 2005.
The
current 35-acre headquarters complex on Old Germantown Road in Delray
Beach consists of three buildings. It lacks adequate parking and
conference space for the approximately 2,000 employees. And it is also
not technologically up to date. According to published reports, that
facility is likely to be redeveloped into a mixed-use property that
combines office and residential space.