VALENCIA, CA-Oltmans Construction Co. of Whittier has started construction on a new $11 million, 75,000-sf office and warehouse facility that will serve as the new headquarters for Mechanix Wear, a maker of gloves used on the Nascar racing circuit. The new facility represents an expansion for Mechanix Wear within Valencia.

The building is being developed by Sheridan Ebbert Real Estate Development of Sylmar, which also serves as the project's construction manager. The new Mechanix Wear headquarters is being built on a five-acre site at 28525 Witherspoon Parkway, northwest of the intersection of Interstate 126 and Interstate 5.

Mechanix Wear expects to employ approximately 75 workers at the new build-to-suit facility, which is scheduled to be completed in May. Privately held Mechanix Wear's "Original Gloves" were first used by pit crew teams at the 1992 Daytona 500 and have since been a leader in the high performance work glove market, having been used by 41 Nascar teams along with other high-profile motorsports teams.

Henry Skornik, project manager in the Thousand Oaks office of Oltmans Construction, notes that the new Mechanix Wear headquarters is a concrete tilt-up structure that will feature 20,000 sf of office space, 32-foot minimum interior clearance, dock high and ground level loading, a "high tech" reception area and an elevator leading to an upscale mezzanine overlooking the reception area. Poliquin Kellogg of Woodland Hills is the architect.