Collectors Universe, parent company of PSA, will be expanding its headquarters and operations facility by an additional 58,814 square feet to bring the total available space in Santa Ana, California to 184,439 square feet.
CU is leasing the previously vacant office space. About half of it is adjacent to CU’s existing facility and will be used for expanding its operations capacity, with the remaining space directly across the street destined for administrative and other support functions.
The news comes about six months after the company announced plans to lease more than 62,000 square-feet of additional space, meaning the size of CU’s operation has essentially tripled since last fall.
“With PSA continuing to experience explosive growth, coupled with excellent performance from our PCGS (coin grading) division, it was imperative that our Company have access to even more space to increase our operational capacity,” stated Joe Orlando, CU’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “Despite doubling our facilities just a few months ago to over 125,000 square feet, the previously acquired space has already been heavily utilized. This new space will ultimately help increase our throughput. The demand for our authentication and grading services has been unrelenting, which has led to longer turnaround times for our customers.”
It’s among the first major moves since the company was sold to an investment group headed by Nat Turner last month.
Collectors Universe has hired approximately 250 new employees since October 2020 but filling submissions continues to be a challenge. The company still has a backlog of millions of cards waiting to be authenticated and graded and the wait for collectors and dealers who submit items at lower cost service levels has, in many cases, been stretching past nine months from the time they’re received.