Green Company to Leave Concord Facility

A green manufacturer is taking its solar-panel mounting business to the Shadelands Business Park in Walnut Creek.

Quick Mount PV is moving its headquarters from Detroit Avenue in Concord to one of two buildings in the business park occupied until earlier this year by Varian, which made gas analyzers there.

“This property is an ideal place for our low-tech light manufacturing facility and fits into our five-year growth plan,” said Quick Mount PV CEO Claudia Wentworth in a company news release. “We have enough space to not only expand significantly in the months and years ahead, but to do so in a planned, intelligent way that will facilitate our growth.”

Quick Mount PV paid $7.5 million for the property, according to the San Francisco  Business Times.

The company now employs 37 people, many hired through the Contra Costa County Workforce Development Program. The company says it plans to hire 20 more in the months ahead.

The company plans to move into the facility in the first quarter of 2012. It will manufacture in the number 2 building, and sub-lease the smaller building that fronts on Mitchell Drive.

The city of Walnut Creek is considering a zoning verification acknowledging that Quick Mount will have a similar percentage of manufacturing compared to the Varian use, said Alan B. Carreon, an associate planner in the city's Community Development Department. The city will also consider building permits and probably approve a sign for the business.

The Quick Mount PV press release follows: 

CONCORD, CA, July 28, 2011 – Green technology company Quick Mount PV announced today that it has, with the help of a Small Business Administration (SBA) and US Bank loan, purchased two buildings on 12 acres of property in the Shadelands Business Park in Walnut Creek. The company plans to move into the facility mid first quarter 2012.

Quick Mount PV designs, engineers, manufactures and markets waterproof rooftop mounting systems for residential and commercial solar installations. The company has grown at greater than 100 percent annually since it was founded in 2006.

The Shadelands facility will be the company’s third home. Having outgrown its original Emeryville shop, the company moved in 2008 to its present space on Detroit Avenue in Concord. After expanding from 5,000 to 30,000 SF in three years, the company needs more space again.

According to Quick Mount PV CEO Claudia Wentworth, the company will occupy the larger 89,900 SF building and sublease the 43,702 SF front office/R&D building. “This property is an ideal place for our low-tech light manufacturing facility and fits into our five-year growth plan,” said Wentworth. “We have enough space to not only expand significantly in the months and years ahead, but to do so in a planned, intelligent way that will facilitate our growth.”

Wentworth said the purchase was made possible with the help of an SBA 504 loan from TMC.  The SBA 504 loan program was created to provide financing for successful, growing businesses, and provides up to 90 percent financing for commercial property acquisition, renovation, or new construction.  “It’s  businesses like Quick Mount PV that are the engines of job growth that will help lead us out of recession,” said Barbara Morrison, CEO and founder of TMC.  “We’re thrilled to be able to help them find a new home.” 

Quick Mount PV expects to hire 20 new personnel in the months ahead, increasing again the current number of employees, many of who have been hired through the Contra Costa County Workforce Development Program. “With additional pressures to manufacture overseas, Quick Mount PV is determined to create jobs for American workers and build a strong green manufacturing economy by continuing to produce its product line in the USA” said Wentworth

“We are proud to bring jobs in green manufacturing to Contra Costa County,” Wentworth added. “Our next efforts will be towards ‘greening’ the larger older building through energy efficiencies and demand-side management. This will not only decrease our manufacturing costs but also the building’s carbon footprint.”