EV startup Mullen Automotive leases warehouse at former Kraft site in Fullerton – Orange County Register

Brea-based electric-vehicle maker Mullen Automotive leased this new 121,615-square-foot warehouse built on the former home of Kraft Heinz Foods in Fullerton. Terms of the lease were not disclosed. (Photo courtesy of CBRE)

The former site of Kraft Heinz Lunchables in Fullerton soon will be humming with the sound of workers again.

This time, a new building completed in 2022 will be chockful of futuristic auto parts, instead of cheese and salami.

The Brea-based electric-vehicle startup Mullen Automotive leased a 121,615-square-foot warehouse built on land that for decades hosted a food manufacturing plant. Kraft Foods shuttered its facility in 2018, leaving hundreds of people out of work.

Link Industrial, which owns the building at 1500 East Walnut Ave., was represented by CBRE. Terms of the lease with Mullen were not disclosed.

“Mullen Automotive … was drawn to the freestanding building because of its heavy power capacity and proximity to its own headquarters in nearby Brea,” said Ben Seybold, an executive vice president at CBRE. “The new lease helps the company expand their local operations and Orange County footprint.”

Mullen manufactures commercial EV trucks and cargo vans. This summer, the company’s first production of Class 3 trucks rolled off the assembly line in Tunica, Miss.

The former Kraft building was part of the food manufacturing scene for decades, first operated as a Claussen pickle factory since the mid-70s….