Akeena Solar upgrading its corporate digs... finally

Soon you might no longer have to mutter "scuse me," as you shuffle past workers at solar installer Akeena Solar's corporate headquarters.

The company announced this morning that it's upgrading to larger office space.

More workers than you might think possible are currently shoehorned into a modest building in the auto body sector in downtown Los Gatos, California (for more color, read our interview with CEO Barry Cinnamon, Cinnamon on solar.) In our last visit to Akeena, only a few weeks ago, the company had even set up desks and a conference room in what was formally its warehouse.

The auto theme is to continue. The company is taking over a landmark 20,000-square-foot facility formerly occupied by one of Silicon Valley's oldest and largest automobile dealerships.

The move will allow the company to consolidate two current San Francisco Bay Area locations and more efficiently manage its rapidly expanding west and east coast operations.

Akeena earlier this month acquired Alternative Energy (see Akeena Solar expands into California's wine country.) In the past year, it's also expanded west coast operations to Fresno, Orange County, Bakersfield and Manteca. Akeena's Fairfield, N.J., office serves the New York metropolitan area, covering eastern Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.