C/A Design gains approval to build new $35M headquarters in Exeter

Melanie Matts
·3 min read

EXETER — A major defense company is one step closer to finishing its move from Dover to Exeter, bringing hundreds of new jobs to Portsmouth Avenue to produce military aircraft parts.

C/A Design Inc. received site plan approval in April for the proposed construction of a 40,000-square-foot addition to a former industrial building at 131 Portsmouth Ave. The company is investing $35 million into refurbishing that building, and the addition will expand it to a 115,000-square-foot manufacturing facility, according to Planning Board Chair Langdon Plumer. The facility will be used for making cooling systems used in aircraft systems and military defense.

“And what the proposal is, is to take the existing building, as it stands today, to renovate that building, and to construct a 200-by-200, or 40,000-square-foot, single-story addition to the building along its southwest side,” said Tom Burns, senior project manager for engineers of project development for C/A Design.

C/A Design is building a 115,000 square-foot facility in Exeter that will bring as many as 200 new jobs to the Seacoast over the next several years.
C/A Design is building a 115,000 square-foot facility in Exeter that will bring as many as 200 new jobs to the Seacoast over the next several years.

Along with the addition, the company will expand and rebuild the parking area on site. This will include a new loading area, and parking accommodations for up to 153 vehicles. Among parking spaces will be four charging stations for electric vehicles. There is also a plan to create a new entrance along the curb cut along Holland Way to help reduce traffic turning movements at GTE Drive and Portsmouth Avenue.

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C/A Design plans to relocate to Exeter

C/A Design produces items like “compact heat exchangers, precision machined components and electronic enclosures,” according to its parent Heico Companies. They also produce “brazing ovens, dip brazing tanks, and automated chemical conversion lines.” They tout the use of these various complex systems and machinery on their website with a multitude of photos and graphics of military jet fighters and drones.

The company is still working out of its Dover location, and it is expected to continue there until the Exeter facility is complete, according to David Choate, executive vice president in New Hampshire for the real estate group Colliers.

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Choates said C/A has a lease on their building in Dover until July 2024 and are prepared for the construction in Exeter to take a year or more. Burns said the construction on the existing structure in Exeter is set to be complete by the end of the year.

The land was sold to C/A last year for approximately $10 million by the Kane Company, according to the company’s CEO Michael Kane. The Kane Company had purchased the land from Osram.

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The aerospace and defense industry manufacturer announced its relocation from Dover to Exeter earlier this year. The move will bring 200 new jobs to work in its state-of-the-art facility. Exeter Economic Development Director Darren Winham credited the Kane company earlier this year with landing a “nice big fish” in selling to C/A.

“This one was a long time coming, but boy oh boy did it work out,” Winham said. “C/A Design will be a great addition to Exeter, and we’re darn proud they chose us.”

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: C/A Design gains approval to build new $35M headquarters in Exeter