Space and defense contactor Thiokol Corp. said Wednesday it will relocate its corporate headquarters to Salt Lake City when its current lease in a downtown Ogden office building expires.
Thiokol said it has signed an agreement with Zions Securities Corp. to lease office space in the high-rise tower located on the southeast corner of Main and South Temple known as the Kennecott Building.The move is expected to be made in late summer 1997. Some 80 employees are scheduled to make the move from Ogden to Salt Lake City.
W. Kent Money, president of Zions Securities, said Zions has for several years leased property in Corrinne to Thiokol. The property is used as a railroad loading facility for their missile shipments. "We look forward to this expansion of our working together," he said.
Money said Thiokol will occupy the top four floors of the building, which will be renamed.
"With Kennecott moving their corporate offices to the new Zions Securities' Social Hall Plaza next summer, we will give the (Thiokol) building a new name - it will be known as Gateway Tower-East," said Money.
Interior renovation of the building is already under way, said Money, including removal of asbestos, seismic upgrades and installation of fire sprinklers and other "life safety enhancements." In addition, new air conditioning systems, including a new boiler plant, will be installed.
James R. Wilson, chairman, president and CEO of Thiokol, said the move is in line with the company's diversification into new markets and growth in its domestic and international operating locations.
"A number of cities across the United States were considered as headquarters sites and we concluded Salt Lake City would meet our requirements and also allow us to maintain close proximity to our extensive northern Utah aerospace operations," said Wilson.
He said Thiokol would continue to have a "major presence" in northern Utah as some functions now based at the Ogden headquarters will be moved to the company's facilities at Promontory, where Thiokol announced last week that it has bought the Air Force facility there consisting of 1,515 acres and 121 buildings.
With the closure of its operations in Huntsville, Ala., several production programs are being moved from there to Utah, and in May, NASA ended the joint NASA/
Thiokol facility in Mississippi. All Thiokol production on the solid rocket motors for the space shuttle will continue in Utah.
In recent years, Thiokol has consolidated most of its engineering and research/development work in northern Utah and recently established a new Utah-based business unit, called TCR Manufacturing, to commercialize development of new composite materials that it develops.
Also, Thiokol and Carlysle Group have formed a jointly owned affiliate to acquire Howmet Corp., based in Greenwich, Conn., a leader in the casting industry with annual revenues of some $900 million.