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New HQ lease to save Westell $2 million a year

AURORA - Westell Technologies said it expects to save approximately $2 million annually after negotiating a new three-year lease on a portion of its Aurora headquarters facility.

The 174,000-square-foot facility at 750 North Commons Ave. consists of a 92,000-square-foot, three-story office building and 82,000 square feet of adjacent industrial space. The facility was built by Westell in 1996 and has been leased by Westell under a sale-leaseback transaction dating back to 1997. With the new lease, which takes effect in October 2017, Westell will lease the industrial space plus a small area between the industrial space and the first floor of the office building.

"Given Westell's space requirements in recent years, the 1997 lease has been a larger-than-necessary cash drain on the business. We are pleased to sign a new agreement that should provide Westell with significant cash savings," said Tom Minichiello, Westell's senior vice president and chief financial officer. "Beginning in October 2017, we expect to reduce our annual cash outlays by approximately $2 million as the new lease covers a footprint that better matches our current requirements."

Westell will continue to occupy primarily the industrial space at its Aurora location, which houses assembly and test operations for its Intelligent Site Management and Services and Communication Network Solutions business segments, engineering and product line management primarily for CNS, and corporate management and administrative functions. Engineering and product line management for ISMS and In-Building Wireless will continue to operate from Dublin, Ohio, and Manchester, New Hampshire, respectively. As previously announced, manufacturing for IBW has been consolidated at Spinnaker in Tilton, New Hampshire.

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