Opportunity Knocks in City of Ontario

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The “O” in Ontario just might stand for opportunity. When UPS went forward with an initial public offering on Nov. 10, several UPS employees at the company’s West Coast hub in Ontario saw their net worth soar. Now when UPS drivers zip by in their brown trucks, Ontario residents take a little more notice. It’s not everyday you see truck drivers with portfolios that rival those of investment bankers.

The City of Ontario has been magic for lots of companies who do business here, and 1999 has been no exception.

Cashing in on the Internet boom, Cooking.com opened a new 60,000-square-foot distribution facility that will enable the company to supply specialty foods and cooking items to its growing universe of customers. When fully staffed, Cooking.com will employ 200 workers.

BMW also hit the brakes when it found Ontario, deciding to establish a new training center on Dupont Street adjacent to the company’s parts distribution center. In addition to building the training center, BMW plans to renovate a portion of its parts distribution center into office space to house the company’s western region offices. The offices will house 18 sales and marketing employees who now work in Playa del Rey in addition to the 68 who now work at the distribution center. The entire project, including the 31,000-square-foot training center, will cost an estimated $6.5 million.

Southern California is home to thousands of automobiles, including BMWs, so Big O Tires, announced this fall that it’s moving part of its distribution center in Las Vegas, Nev., to Ontario. It signed a $2 million, seven-year lease for 62,000 square feet of industrial space. The new facility at 5600 Francis Street will serve 58 retail stores in Southern California.

In 1999, the city, whose airport first opened in 1923, further strengthened its ties to the aerospace industry. In July, Keystone Engineering, maker of domes for space launch vehicles such as the space shuttle, broke Ontario ground on a new $14 million headquarters. The company, which has been in business since the early 1900s, is relocating from Los Angeles.

About the same time, Ontario-based JCM Engineering, manufacturer of shell components for the Tomahawk cruise missile, expanded into a new 137,000-square-foot facility.

High-tech is finding a new home in Ontario. Steris Corporation, a leader in gamma and electron beam processing for infection and contamination prevention and sterilization, is building a 160,000-square foot facility on 14 acres southeast of the I-10 and I-15 interchange.

More and more, high-tech firms are taking advantage of the 24 colleges and universities within easy reach of Ontario, including Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, Calif., regarded as one of the elite engineering colleges in the nation. Higher education in Ontario also got a boost with the announcement in October that the University of La Verne is moving its entire law school just north of Ontario City Hall. The University of La Verne Law School boasts an enviable bar pass rate of 85.7 (for those taking the bar for the first time in February 1999) compared with the California statewide average of 41.1%. Enrollment is expected to more than double at the new school when it opens in 2001.

Historically, companies that needed to have operations in Southern California considered Ontario a low-cost alternative to doing business in Los Angeles. Yet in the past few years, Ontario has become a stand-alone destination with its new airport, convention center, regional shopping centers, pro-business attitude and quality of life. Within an hour’s drive of Ontario, there are more than 100 attractions and sites for families to visit and enjoy. In the current issue of American Bungalow, a national periodical devoted to early 20th century housing, the magazine praises Ontario’s historic neighborhoods and small-town charms.

From the first “O” to the last, Ontario stands for opportunity.

Peter Bennett is with the City of Ontario, for more information, contact him at 909-391-2510.

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