Supply chain holdups have again pushed back the opening date of a new headquarters for a fast-growing Albuquerque company.
Pajarito Powder, a company that develops catalyzers for use in fuel cells and electrolyzer applications, initially projected it would open its new headquarters by the end of 2022 at the site of a former charter school. Supply chain disruptions then delayed the headquarters's construction, Albuquerque Business First reported last November.
But continuing supply chain issues have pushed the opening back again to late this summer. Construction is now set to be completed in June, with the headquarters being occupied in August, a public relations representative for Pajarito Powder told Business First in a March 16 email.
"At this point I think we're past all of that," Pajarito Powder's co-founder and CEO, Tom Stephenson, said, referring to the supply chain holdups. "Everything that's coming along is coming along on the schedule we have today."
Stephenson pointed to different types of electrical components as one example of parts that have taken longer to receive. He said that Pajarito Powder uses a lot of electricity in its manufacturing and that supply chain disruptions have delayed the company receiving basic equipment like electrical transformers.
The new headquarters, located at 5555 McLeod Rd. NE, would "house all the elements of our business going forward," Stephenson told Business First in November. He also said in November that G3 Investors LLC, the new headquarters's landlord, has been "fairly patient" with Pajarito Powder as the company works through the supply chain disruptions.
New Mexico and the City of Albuquerque put more than $250,000 in Local Economic Development Act incentives behind the company's manufacturing expansion, according to an Albuquerque Development Commission filing from February 2022. The facility could bring more than 50 new jobs to the city.
Pajarito Powder has grown since being named a 2022 New Mexico Inno Startup to Watch. It recently hired nearly a dozen new employees and received investments from Hyundai Motor Co. and Belgium-based technology company Bekaert last year.
