Princess/garcia/12/dp1st/mark2nd By SHELLY GARCIA Staff Reporter Princess Cruises Inc. will relocate its corporate offices from Century City to Town Center Drive in Valencia, a move that is expected to add 162,000 square feet of occupied office space to the development. Newhall Land and Farming Co., which developed Town Center Drive, will construct two new buildings for Princess Cruises to accommodate the relocation of more than 500 employees, bringing the amount of space Princess will occupy to 260,000 square feet. Last year, the company moved its 750-employee customer-service center to Valencia. Princess is making the move as the result of a decision to double its size and add seven new ships to its fleet in anticipation of an upswing. “The cruise industry is really in its beginning stages,” said Rick James, a Princess spokesman. “As the Baby Boomers gray, they’re looking for adventure, but a soft adventure, and the cruise experience really fits that niche where you can go to wonderful foreign destinations but still return to the comfort of a ship.” Princess Cruises moved its customer-service center to Valencia after adding three ships to its fleet. Officials felt it would be easier to recruit personnel for that operation in suburban Santa Clarita, since the office uses many entry-level and part-time workers. “Where we were situated in Century City, we’re overlooking Beverly Hills and Bel-Air, and those were not great areas to draw employees from,” James said. The company explored a number of sites in various parts of the country for its customer-service center, but once it became evident that the headquarters offices would have to be expanded as well, Valencia was the choice. Officials estimate that the company only lost about 10 percent of its customer-service workforce in the move last year, and projects that turnover related to the next phase of relocation will be lower. “We’re moving 35 miles at the end of the day, and we’re moving against the traffic flow,” James said. “We think the vast number of people will look to continue to commute.” Locating on Town Center Drive also enables the company to accommodate future growth. Only about 5 million passengers a year are currently taking cruises, compared to about 45 million people who vacation in Orlando, Fla., each year. Industry executives believe cruises have failed to draw passengers because they offer limited recreation opportunities. However, the new ships under construction for Princess will include more entertainment facilities. “Cruising has been perceived to be a very regimented, stodgy vacation,” James said. “Now we’re providing multiple entertainment options so when you come out of dinner, you have a variety of things to do.”