Princess Cruises’ Customer Service Staff to Land in Santa Clarita

SANTA CLARITA — In a move that city officials estimate will bring 600 jobs and $2.7 million in sales taxes annually, Princess Cruises, the West Coast’s largest cruise line, has decided to ship its customer service operations to Santa Clarita.

City Manager George Caravalho said Century City-based Princess Cruises will be the largest employer to move into Santa Clarita since its incorporation nearly 10 years ago.

“This is very important to our economic base,” Caravalho said. “Having a large employer like Princess Cruises inside the city means potential new jobs for citizens here.”

The deal is a major victory for Santa Clarita’s business community and especially for the Newhall Land & Farming Co., which had been trying to lure the company away from Century City for about two years, said Marlee Lauffer, a Newhall Land spokeswoman.

Newhall Land has been at the forefront of efforts by city and businesses leaders to draw large companies into the area.

“Princess Cruises is a worldwide company, and by attracting them here, we think more companies will follow.” Lauffer said. “More and more businesses are recognizing Valencia as an ideal location.”

Exact terms of the agreement between the cruise line and Newhall Land were not released, but Peter Ratcliffe, president of Princess Cruises, said the company signed a 15-year lease for a six-story building next to the Valencia Town Center, the city’s only enclosed mall and the heart of its commercial district.

Princess Cruises will occupy the top five floors; the first floor will be dedicated to retail businesses and restaurants. Ratcliffe said he expects the move to be completed by November of next year.

The 32-year-old cruise line, which operates a nine-ship fleet and sails to more than 200 ports worldwide, will keep its administrative operations and its 300 employees in Century City. Ratcliffe said the company decided this unit would be more productive in its present location.

But the high quality of life Santa Clarita offers prompted company executives to move the rest of their operations, Ratcliffe said.

He noted that the FBI recently ranked Santa Clarita as the fourth-safest city in the country and that Santa Clarita came in second in California Business magazine’s rankings of best cities in which to do business.

“It has an excellent reputation for schools and safety,” Ratcliffe said. “We’re in the business of selling dreams. It’s in our best interest to have our people happy where they work and we believe that they will be in the new location.”