Nissan Moving its Corporate Headquarters?

[Dan Zubkoff <zubkoff@sbcglobal.net>]

http://www.nashvillecitypaper.com/index.cfm?section_id=9&screen=news&news_id=45846

and Mr K.'s comments:

http://www.ashlandcitytimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051105/BUSINESS01/511050353/1291/MTCN01


Dan Zubkoff
San Mateo, CA
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State to announce Nissan move
By John Rodgers and Don Mooradian
November 10, 2005
 
Officials are expected to announce today that Nissan
North America will relocate its headquarters from Los
Angeles to the Nashville area.

Nissanbs relocation to Nashville could bring as many
as 1,300 jobs.

The location of Nissanbs new headquarters is unclear
at this point, but could be in the Cool Springs area
of Williamson County.

Gov. Phil Bredesen is expected to make the
announcement today at the State Capitol.

Currently, it is not known what incentives state and
local officials might have offered the company.

Before Nissanbs new headquarters are complete, the
company might look to occupy temporary office space.

One option is downtownbs BellSouth Tower, which
currently has 133,000 square feet of office space
available that encompasses about 6.5 floors. That
space is estimated to provide room for about 665
people.

Nissan North America employs about 1,300 people at its
headquarters in Gardena, Calif., which is outside of
Los Angeles.

The headquarters staff is responsible for all
operations in the United States, Canada, and Mexico
including automotive styling, consumer and corporate
financing, and engineering.

Asked to speculate about the move, Barry Smith,
president of Eakin Partners LLC, said he expected the
move would be gradual.

bTheybre certainly not going to transfer 1,300
people in one fell swoop and that many of their
current employees might not move anyway,b he said.

Assuming that a couple hundred workers might be the
first wave of a relocation, Smith said the BellSouth
building has space that could accommodate them.

He said downtown Nashville would be a good centralized
locale to begin the process.

Another site might be in the CNA building near the
Nashville International Airport, Smith said.

However, for an eventual staff of 1,300 people, the
company might need upwards of 300,000 square feet and
possibly 30 acres or more.

bCertainly, there is plenty of land in a 20- to
30-mile radius of Nashville,b Smith said.

Having zoning and infrastructure in place would be a
big plus for a relocating company.

The Cool Springs area has that kind of space, said
Smith.

He also said that such land might be available closer
to Murfreesboro as well.

Nissan began selling automobiles in the United States
in 1958, at that time under the name Datsun.

Nissan built a massive manufacturing plant in Smyrna
and vehicles began to roll of the assembly lines there
in the mid-1980s. It opened another parts plant in
Decherd and now employees about 8,000 workers in
Tennessee.

This summer, Nissan announced an expansion in its
production, saying the Smyrna plant would begin
producing a hybrid version of the Altima, a four-door
sedan, next year.

The company sells 11 vehicles in North America:
Sentra, Altima, Maxima, Xterra, Pathfinder, Frontier,
Titan, Murano, Armada and Quest and the 350Z.