KARL STORZ GmbH & Co. KG (KARL STORZ), developer of advanced minimally invasive endoscopic technology and operating room integration solutions, announce that it will relocate its North America Region headquarters from Culver City, California, to nearby El Segundo as of March 16, 2009. The new location offers room for anticipated growth and establishes a permanent headquarters for the company’s North America Region and US subsidiary, KARL STORZ Endoscopy-America, Inc.

With the support of h. c. mult. Sybill Storz, owner and managing director of KARL STORZ Endoskope, a management team from the North America Region researched a variety of lease and purchase options for new locations before settling on the El Segundo site.

“There has been considerable growth in both our U.S.-based operations and the size of our onsite personnel in recent years,” said Charles H. Wilhelm, president – chief operating officer, KARL STORZ Endoscopy-America, Inc. “With our lease nearing the end of its term, it was time to consider a move to a larger facility.”

The move is considered to be a significant milestone since the company will own the approximately 121,000-square-foot facility. KARL STORZ previously leased its Culver City office, where it has been located since 1993. The company will occupy at least 90,000 square feet of the El Segundo building.

“In addition to size, quality and budget, we considered a range of factors in selecting our new headquarters,” said Wilhelm. “We took into account the proximity to our existing offices to minimize the impact on our current employees, especially with regard to commute times. We also considered factors of convenience, such as distance to public transit and local restaurants. The El Segundo location was found to be a very good fit in all respects.”

The new headquarters is walking distance to a Metro station and has nearby shopping and restaurants for employees to take advantage of at lunch and after work. For the convenience of out-of-town visitors, the building is also a short distance from LAX and a number of major hotels.

To be environmentally responsible, KARL STORZ is pursuing LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification. As part of this effort, the company purchased a building near public transportation and is encouraging employees to carpool through an incentive program. And as part of the substantial remodeling of its new headquarters, KARL STORZ has installed a high-efficiency HVAC system and is reducing the power used for interior lighting by 17%. To preserve indoor air quality, the company has used low-VOC paints and carpet systems, installed a carbon dioxide monitoring system, and is developing a green cleaning program. The move to the new building is expected to be complete in March. The new address will be: 2151 E. Grand Avenue, El Segundo, CA 90245.