TechnipFMC Plc has signed a lease for a 71,000-square-foot office building in Davis, which will allow for the expansion of its Schilling Robotics operation in the city.
TechnipFMC (NYSE: FTI) subsidiary Schilling makes undersea robots in a 120,000-square-foot space on Second Street in Davis, and it has been trying to expand for years.
“This is a significant economic development win for the community of Davis,” said Davis Mayor Gloria Partida, in a news release. "Our engineering talent rivals other regions throughout the nation. We are glad to see this company stay in Davis instead of moving to another community."
The Schilling operation has been in need of more space for years, and it's looked outside of Davis for potential expansion. The new lease allows the company to stay in the college town, which is notoriously short of large factory, lab and office spaces.
Landowner Pac West Diversified LP of Sacramento announced TechnipFMC has signed a lease for its office building at 3805 Faraday Ave., which is just down the street from the longtime Schilling factory on Second Street.
The office building on Faraday will house mechanical, software and engineering employees, thus opening up some space in the factory building, Pac West said.
Most of Schilling’s products are used for underwater oil and gas exploration and production. It manufactures remotely operated vehicles that perform demanding jobs such as moving pipe at ocean depths of 13,000 feet.
The office building on Faraday was previously occupied by DMG Mori Seiki Co. Ltd.
Pac West Diversified bought the building on Faraday last year. Pac West is a privately held real estate company with property in the West and Northern California. It's affiliated with the Sacramento-based Buzz Oates group of companies.
“This lease demonstrates the strong and ongoing demand in Davis for space to accommodate cutting-edge tech companies, which keeps jobs and tax revenues in the community,” said Dan Ramos, project manager for the Davis Innovation & Sustainability Campus, or DISC, project east of Mace Boulevard and just outside the city limits. Ramos is project manager with Ramco Enterprises, which is partnering on the DISC project with Buzz Oates to develop a 1.3 million-square-foot office park on about 118 acres. That project needs approval from city voters June 7 to move forward because it would need to be annexed to the city.
“Offering readily available advanced manufacturing real estate space for companies is imperative as we look to continue to grow the economy in Greater Sacramento,” said Greater Sacramento Economic Council CEO Barry Broome, in a news release.
TechnipFMC is a U.K.-based provider of technology for the oil and gas industry. Its Davis-based operation makes remote underwater robots and mechanical arms used in oil exploration and drilling. The company has been seeking to expand that operation for eight years. First it looked in Davis, and then when no suitable location could be found there, it began development proposals in West Sacramento, where it sought to build a 240,000-square-foot manufacturing building. The company worked on that project for years, before dropping the proposal after the pandemic hit in 2020.
