Relocation Of Business

Best Data Products, a leading manufacturer of modem, video conferencing and 3-D graphics products, will increase the size of its headquarters by 50% when it moves Oct. 1 to the Northridge Industrial Park in Chatsworth. About 100 workers will be employed at the 28,350-square-foot high-tech site, which replaces Best Data's plant on Nordhoff Street. The five-year lease is valued at $1.1 million.

There's another consolidation in the works, although nobody is publicly acknowledging it yet. Look for South Koran auto importer Kia Motors America Inc. to pull all of its Irvine-based operations back into its headquarters at 2 Technology Drive early this summer. The company's South Korean parent is bankrupt. Although the consolidation here could save a few bucks a month in rent, that's not the main reason for the move, insiders say.

After their proposal to set up a district welfare office in Burbank drew criticism from the city's leaders, Los Angeles County officials appeared to back away from that idea Thursday, saying they would search for a site in Glendale, which already has such an office. The decision to focus on Glendale "was decided on the basis of a number of issues, primarily parking and location," said Ollie Blanning, an aide to County Supervisor Mike Antonovich.

Fresh Directions International, a fresh produce import-export company, has relocated its headquarters to Ventura from Rancho Cucamonga. The company has five employees. "This area has long been recognized as a key agribusiness center in California and will afford our company greater opportunities to expand our fresh produce line for shipment to our domestic customers as well as to those overseas," said Mike Browne, president and chief executive officer.

"Big Six" accounting firm Deloitte & Touche is about to give the long-suffering downtown office market a major shot in the arm with one of the biggest lease commitments the central business district has seen since before the early-1990s recession.

Medical Science Systems Inc. said Thursday it is moving its corporate headquarters to San Antonio from Newport Beach this month. The company said its headquarters, with six employees, will be consolidated with its research center, which has been in San Antonio since Medical Science was incorporated in Texas in 1986. The relocation will cut overhead and improve operating efficiency, the company said. Medical Science develops and commercializes genetic susceptibility tests for diseases.

Major retailers are abandoning cities to expand in rural areas and overseas, leaving inner-city residents eager to shop in well-known stores underserved, according to two studies released Thursday. The Boston-based Initiative for a Competitive Inner City made its conclusions from a study that focused primarily on Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Miami, Oakland, Calif., and New York's Harlem, and one that surveyed 1,205 inner-city households nationwide.

Faced with increased demand, the Child Care Resource Center has moved to a new location in Van Nuys and is now fully operational, officials at the private, nonprofit agency announced Monday. "We needed to move to service all the people who wanted our services," said Terry Taylor, associated director of agency administration. "We are able to take on new programs and expand our staff, and we certainly can handle our current programs more comfortably."

City leaders expressed anger Monday over a proposal by Los Angeles County officials to move a welfare office, which attracts 1,400 recipients per day, from Glendale to Burbank. Assistant City Manager Steve Helvey said Burbank has enlisted the help of Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich to deal with the city's concerns over the proposal by county officials to locate a new office at the east end of the city at Winona Avenue near Hollywood Way.

Builders are putting up only about half the houses needed to accommodate California's fast-growing population, a trend that will make housing dramatically more expensive and could turn legions of families into permanent renters, says a report to be released today. The California Building Industry Assn.