Deckers Outdoor Corporation Breaks Ground in Goleta

The sky was blue and the sun was shining Wednesday afternoon at the Cabrillo Business Park in Goleta. Top Deckers management and officials from the City of Goleta, including Goleta’s new mayor, Ed Easton, gathered at the corner of Los Carneros and Hollister to celebrate the beginning of construction for Deckers’s new world headquarters, which is planned to be finished in the spring of 2013. Founded 40 years ago in Isla Vista, Deckers is keeping its new headquarters close to home and will continue to invest in the local community and provide new career opportunities, officials said.

The event kicked off as Steven Fedde, senior vice president of Sares-Regis Group and chairman of the Board of the Goleta Valley Chamber of Commerce, took to the lectern. Fedde thanked Deckers management, as well as the teams of planners, architects, construction workers, lawyers, and real estate professionals who helped make the project happen. “Included in this team is the City of Goleta staff,” said Fedde. “Without their hard work, commitment, creativity, and cooperation, we would not be here today … It’s not often that a community has the opportunity to keep a locally founded, growing company local. Deckers includes hundreds of well-paid employees who are living locally and spreading the economic benefit throughout this community. The City of Goleta gets it. Helping companies like Deckers stay, grow, and thrive in this community is what economic development is all about.”

Easton spoke next. “The City of Goleta is really happy to have you as a partner in our efforts to become a better city, not just a bigger one,” he said, “and Deckers is going to make a major contribution to that, and for that, I thank you.” Carlo Brignardello with Cresa Partners real estate spoke next, thanking Deckers for choosing Goleta and the Cabrillo Business Park for the location of the company’s new headquarters. Brignardello then introduced the CEO, president, and chairman of the Board of Deckers Outdoor Corporation, Angel Martinez. “These projects start as dreams and end up in too many cases as nightmares, but not in this case,” said Martinez. “Everyone has been dedicated to the great outcome that we’re going to kick off today by putting a shovel in the ground.”