Canon USA will complete its headquarters move from the Lake Success Quadrangle to Melville at the end of March and We’re Associates, which owns the buildings Canon is vacating, is still seeking a tenant for the facilities.
The international digital imaging and advanced office solutions company recently announced it had relocated approximately 700 employees from its Lake Success office to its new North America and South America headquarters in Melville. Lake Success will temporarily remain home to nearly 700 employees in several different Canon business units until they are all relocated to the new Melville offices later this month, according to Canon spokesman Daniel Lorenzo.
“We’ve had some great interest but we don’t have anybody signed,” said Harold Rechler, attorney for We’re Associates. “We’re looking for the right tenant because it’s a rare opportunity to get a block like this in Lake Success.”
Jericho-based We’re Associates plans to renovate and upgrade the offices Canon has occupied for the past 41 years at 1-3 Dakota Drive and 4 Ohio Drive over the next six months, Rechler said. The company is also seeking a change-of-use permit from the Village of Lake Success Board of Trustees to market the Canon headquarters to multiple prospective tenants.
An application it submitted seeking that change in August was tabled by the Lake Success board.
The upgrades are primarily for parking space, Rechler said. We’re Associates had already received approval from the Village of Lake Success Planning Board and its Board of Zoning Appeals to create new “parking decks” at Canon’s former headquarters complex. Rechler said the company will seek permission for garage parking and will also reconfigure ground parking at the site.
“We’re trying to keep our options a little open because different tenants have different parking needs,” he said.
Rechler said the buildings would not be available to be occupied before fall or winter.
“We’d be glad to see a tenant sooner but we’re not afraid of waiting for the right one,” Rechler said.
Canon’s move to the new five-story facility on 52-acres 16 miles east of Lake Success has been in the planning stages since 2010. It had occupied its headquarters in Lake Success since 1971, when it moved from Woodside, Queens. When it moved to Lake Success in 1971, the company had 80 employees. That number grew to 1,400 by the end of 2012.
“We have taken the necessary steps to ensure the transition from Lake Success to Melville has been a smooth one for both our employees and our customers. To date, the transition has been seamless,” said Seymour Liebman, Canon U.S.A. executive vice president, chief administrative officer and general counsel.
Nassau County Legislator Richard Nicolello (R-New Hyde Park) said he sympathizes with the longer commute local residents working for Canon will now have, but he said he’s relieved that the company didn’t relocate out of state.
“I would rather they stay in Nassau County but I’m happy they stayed on Long Island,” Nicolello said.
