Pajarito Powder has been quickly outgrowing its existing headquarters. Now, the Albuquerque company is set to open a new one.
The new headquarters will "house all the elements of our business going forward," said Tom Stephenson, Pajarito Powder's co-founder and CEO.
"It'll be our headquarters facility, but it'll certainly include our manufacturing capacity as well," he added.
Stephenson couldn't provide an exact date for when the new headquarters will open, but estimated it would be in spring 2023. The headquarters was originally projected to open by the end of this year, but supply chain holdups and other factors have delayed the opening, he said.
The new headquarters will nearly triple the square footage of Pajarito Powder's current manufacturing space, Stephenson said. The headquarters will also provide dedicated office space to executives and employees.
"It's designed to give us what we need to be able to continue to grow with the industry over the next several years," Stephenson said in regard to the new headquarters.
The headquarters will be in the former Learning Community Charter School at 5555 McLeod Road NE. The previously announced expansion could add over 50 new jobs to Albuquerque. The company has also received over $250,000 in Local Economic Development Act incentives from the state of New Mexico and the city of Albuquerque for the new headquarters, according to a February Albuquerque Development Commission filing.
Stephenson couldn't share the exact square footage number of the new facility.
G3 Investors LLC, the new headquarters' landlord, has been "fairly patient" with Pajarito Powder while the company works through supply chain and other issues, Stephenson said.
"Having someone that we could work with very closely has been something that's been a really tremendous asset, and something that we're very excited about in terms of our relationship with them going forward," Stephenson said.
Pajarito Powder develops catalyzers for use in fuel cells and electrolyzer applications that reduce the number of precious materials needed for production. The company has grown fast since being named a 2022 Startup to Watch earlier this year. It's "nearly doubled" in the last year while hiring close to a dozen new employees and has received swells of money from Hyundai Motor Co. and Belgium technology company Bekaert.
Moving into a new headquarters next year is evidence of this growth paying off, Stephenson said.
"We have outgrown the space that we have currently, fortunately, having the very good circumstances of increased demand that the industry is enjoying generally," Stephenson said. "The increase in staffing that we've had that's come along with it means that we need to have a larger, better facility for our team."
