What is Disney doing with the Yamaha campus in Cypress?
Disney is using the former Yamaha headquarters at 6555 Katella Avenue in Cypress for Disneyland Resort back-of-house operations, the work guests never see. Walt Disney Parks and Resorts closed on the 25-acre campus September 23, 2026, for $115.29 million per public records. Yamaha leases it back through December 31, 2028, so nothing changes on Katella yet.
In this video I walk through what Disney bought on Katella, why Yamaha is leaving Cypress after 47 years, and what Disney paid per acre compared to the Los Alamitos Race Course land.
By Austin Criss, REALTOR® | RE/MAX TIFFANY | October 14th, 2026
If you’ve driven down Katella in Cypress anytime in the last 40 years, you’ve driven past the Yamaha headquarters. It’s 25 acres, it takes up literally the whole block, and you probably haven’t thought twice about it. Most of us probably headed to Target. Well, that just changed, because Disney bought it.
What did Disney buy in Cypress, and for how much?
Walt Disney Parks and Resorts closed on Yamaha Motor Corporation USA’s Cypress headquarters on September 23, 2026. Public records put the price at $115.29 million. Disney did not put out a press release, and Avison Young, the brokerage that sold it for Yamaha, did not name the buyer. The Orange County Business Journal found the buyer in property records and broke the story on October 3.
It’s a big piece of land for Cypress. Here is what changed hands.
| Deal detail | What the record shows | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Address | 6555 Katella Avenue, Cypress | OC Business Journal |
| Buyer | Walt Disney Parks and Resorts U.S. | OC Business Journal, property records |
| Seller | Yamaha Motor Corporation USA | Avison Young |
| Closed | September 23, 2026 | Property records |
| Price | $115.29 million | Public records, per the Orange County Register |
| Land | About 25 acres, the full block between Katella Avenue, Holder Street, and Yamaha Way | Avison Young |
| Buildings | About 278,964 square feet in one industrial, one flex, and one office building | Avison Young, via ConnectCRE |
| Zoning | Industrial | Avison Young |
| Leaseback | Yamaha stays through December 31, 2028 | Avison Young, OC Business Journal |
| Distance to Disneyland | About seven miles west | OC Business Journal |
Patrick Barnes of Avison Young called it "a transformational moment for both Yamaha and the City of Cypress." I want to be fair here. That’s a seller’s broker talking, so of course he’s gonna say that. But it is a big deal. The Business Journal called the campus one of the largest redevelopment sites in north Orange County, and if you know this area, you know there’s just not a lot of land left like this.
Is Disney building a theme park in Cypress?
No. There’s no ride coming to Katella. This is the behind the scenes side of Disneyland, and the land is zoned industrial.
Disney told the Orange County Register: "This acquisition provides space that can help support our long-term operational needs for our continued growth and evolving business needs." Disney also said the campus will house back-of-house operations. That is pretty much everything that keeps the resort running that guests never see. Reporters have pointed out it can include things like laundry and costuming, but Disney hasn’t said which departments are actually coming here. So nobody knows that part yet.
Why would Disney need more room right now? I’m not gonna guess at what’s in Disney’s head. Here’s what’s public. The Anaheim City Council unanimously approved DisneylandForward in 2024, with final approval on May 7, 2024. It’s the plan that lets Disney expand the resort, with at least $1.9 billion going in over the next decade. Disney hasn’t connected those two things, so I’m not going to either. The Business Journal reported the same thing: no stated link between the Cypress purchase and DisneylandForward.
One more thing worth knowing. Disneyland Resort is already the largest employer in Orange County, and now Disney owns a full city block in Cypress.
Why is Yamaha leaving Cypress after 47 years?
Yamaha’s been leaving Cypress one piece at a time for a long time. And a lot of people don’t realize this, but nothing actually gets made there. It’s not a factory. It’s the corporate side of the company, the finance and the admin for the motorcycles, ATVs, golf carts, and boats.
- 1978: Yamaha buys the Katella land.
- 1979: Yamaha opens its U.S. headquarters in Cypress.
- 1980: Yamaha is one of the first companies in the Cypress Business Park, according to the City of Cypress.
- 1999: The marine business moves to Kennesaw, Georgia.
- 2019: Motorsports follows to Kennesaw. Corporate and finance stay in Cypress.
- March 2026: Yamaha announces the rest is going to Georgia too, phased from the end of 2026 through the end of 2028. Yamaha told the Business Journal 200 to 250 employees had remained in Cypress.
- September 23, 2026: Sale to Disney closes, with Yamaha leasing it back through December 31, 2028.
The reason was what Yamaha called structural reforms, basically making the company more profitable with tariffs and costs going up.
And this isn’t the first time Cypress has been through this. In 2019, Mitsubishi Motors moved its North American headquarters out of Cypress to Franklin, Tennessee, after 31 years in California. That was about 200 jobs. So that’s two big corporations leaving the same city in seven years.
Why do business parks matter so much to Cypress?
Growing up in Cypress, I always knew it was a beautiful place to live. Such a homey spot where, honestly, I felt safe. The streets were clean. The neighborhoods were well kept. And I always wondered why. Then once I got into real estate, I started to uncover why Cypress is the way it is.
A big part of it is the business parks. The city puts them at about 439 acres, mostly grouped down by Katella and Valley View. They aren’t in the way of residential communities. They’re commercial buildings that bring in tax revenue for our city, and in my opinion, that’s a big part of what keeps our city flourishing.
A lot of that growth happened while Darrell Essex was running the city. He was appointed city manager in 1962, when Cypress was mostly a dairy community of about 4,000 people, and he served 34 years. There’s even a park named after him, Darrell Essex Park in Fairway Park, and if you see my other videos, you know I love that park.
So decisions made a long time ago are a big reason the streets look how they do, why our buildings look how they do, and why the city runs the way it is. When people buy here, they tend not to leave.
What does $4.6 million an acre say about Cypress land?
Disney paid about $4.6 million an acre for this land. That’s $115.29 million divided by roughly 25 acres. Here’s something to compare it to on the same street.
| Yamaha campus | Race course overflow parking | |
|---|---|---|
| Buyer | Walt Disney Parks and Resorts | Melia Homes |
| Year | 2026 | 2021 |
| Acres | About 25 | About 7 |
| Price | $115.29 million | $30.3 million |
| Per acre | About $4.6 million | About $4.3 million |
| What it was | Industrial zoning with buildings on it | Overflow parking for Los Alamitos Race Course, 4961 Katella Ave |
| What it is now | Disney back-of-house, after Yamaha leaves | Belmont, 135 townhomes |
I want to be fair about this comparison, because they’re not the same kind of land. One came with buildings on it and industrial zoning. The other one became homes. And they’re five years apart.
But when two big buyers both buy land right around four and a half million an acre in Cypress, that tells me serious money still sees real value in the city. That’s a really comforting feeling if you own here.
What does the Disney deal mean if you own a home in Cypress?
First, this is not another race track. Over at the Los Alamitos Race Track, the city approved up to 1,791 homes. This deal adds zero homes. It’s one business coming in as another one goes out.
Mitsubishi left, Yamaha’s leaving, and this campus could have turned into a lot of things. Instead, the biggest employer in the county bought it to run its own operations. In my opinion, that’s about as stable an owner as Cypress could have asked for.
If you live near Katella and Holder, nothing changes yet. Yamaha’s in there through the end of 2028. The one thing I’d keep an eye on is traffic, with the race course build out coming on the same street, and Disney hasn’t said yet what operations are going here or when.
And if you own a home here, I think this is a net benefit. But honestly, one big company leaving and one coming in is not gonna change the value of your home next month. Location, condition, and price still decide that. If news like this has you thinking about what you would actually net selling in Cypress, my free seller guide walks through how I price a home and what’s worth fixing before you list. You can find everything else about the city in my Cypress city guide. Cypress sits in North Orange County on the Los Angeles County line, and Katella is the street where most of its change is happening right now.
Frequently Asked Questions
What did Disney buy in Cypress, CA?
Walt Disney Parks and Resorts bought Yamaha Motor Corporation USA’s former headquarters at 6555 Katella Avenue in Cypress. The campus is about 25 acres and fills the full block between Katella Avenue, Holder Street, and Yamaha Way, with about 279,000 square feet of industrial, flex, and office buildings. The sale closed September 23, 2026, at $115.29 million per public records.
Is Disney building a theme park in Cypress?
No. Disney says the Cypress campus will support Disneyland Resort back-of-house operations, the work guests never see. Reporters have named laundry and costuming as examples, but Disney has not said which departments will move there. The land is zoned industrial, and there is no ride coming to Katella.
When will Disney start using the Yamaha campus in Cypress?
Not before 2029. Yamaha is leasing the whole property back from Disney through December 31, 2028, while it moves its remaining Cypress operations to Kennesaw, Georgia. If you drive down Katella between now and then, the campus will look the same. Disney has not said what operations are coming or when.
How much did Disney pay per acre for the Yamaha land in Cypress?
About $4.6 million an acre, based on $115.29 million for roughly 25 acres. For comparison, Melia Homes paid about $4.3 million an acre in 2021 for 7 acres of Los Alamitos Race Course overflow parking on Katella, which became the Belmont townhomes. The two sites are different kinds of land and five years apart.
Will the Disney purchase change home values in Cypress?
Not next month. In my opinion it is a net benefit for Cypress homeowners, because a stable owner is taking over a big campus instead of it sitting empty or turning into something else. But one company leaving and one coming in does not move the value of your house on its own. Location, condition, and price still decide that.
Video transcript: Disney Just Bought 25 Acres in Cypress CA | What It Means for Cypress
Disney bought the Yamaha campus in Cypress CA (0:00)
If you’ve driven down Katella in Cypress anytime in the last 40 years, you’ve driven past the Yamaha headquarters. Beautiful stretch of commercial space. It’s 25 acres, it takes up literally the whole block, and you probably haven’t thought twice about it. Most of us probably headed to Target.
Well, that just changed, because Disney bought it for a whopping hundred and fifteen million dollars. And they didn’t announce it. It actually came out through property records.
So the first question everybody’s asking is, is Disney building something in Cypress, California? And honestly, the answer is more interesting than a new ride. Disney actually said what they’re using it for. Yamaha’s been slowly leaving Cypress for years, and there’s one number buried in this deal that tells you exactly what land is worth right now.
So I’m gonna walk you through all of it, what’s actually happening and what it means for our city. I’m Austin Criss, the realtor who tells it like it is, so let’s get into it.
What actually happened (0:54)
So first, what actually happened. On September 23rd, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts closed on Yamaha’s US headquarters here in Cypress. Public records put the price at $115.29 million.
Now, Disney didn’t put out a press release on this, and the brokers that sold it for Yamaha didn’t name the buyer either. It was the Orange County Business Journal that found this out, and that story broke on October 3rd. Only after did Disney give a statement, and I’ll give that to you in a minute.
And this is a big piece of land for Cypress. We’re talking about 25 acres, literally the full city block between Katella, Holder Street, and Yamaha Way, with about 279,000 square feet of warehouse space and buildings on it. It’s zoned industrial. The Business Journal called it one of the largest redevelopment sites in north Orange County, and if you know this area, you know there’s just not a lot of land left like this.
It sits about seven miles west of Disneyland, and it’s on the same street as the Los Alamitos racetrack, which, if you saw my last video, just got approved for close to 1,800 homes. So there’s a lot happening on Katella right now.
Now, the broker who sold it for Yamaha called it a transformational moment for both Yamaha and the city of Cypress. And I want to be fair here. That’s a seller’s broker talking, so of course he’s gonna say that. But it is a big deal, and to understand why, you have to know why Yamaha’s leaving in the first place.
47 years of Yamaha in Cypress (2:16)
So Yamaha bought this land back in 1978 and opened its US headquarters here in 1979. That’s 47 years in Cypress. And a lot of people don’t realize this, but nothing actually gets made there. It’s not a factory. It’s the corporate side of the company, the finance and the admin for the motorcycles, ATVs, golf carts, and boats.
Why Cypress is the way it is (2:36)
Growing up in Cypress, I always knew it was a beautiful place to live. Such a homey spot where, honestly, I felt safe. The streets were clean. The neighborhoods were well kept.
And I always wondered why. It’s just a small city in Orange County, nothing really too special about it. And then once I got into real estate, I started to uncover why Cypress is the way it is.
A big part of it is the business parks. Cypress has around 439 acres of them, mostly grouped down by Katella and Valley View. And according to the city, Yamaha was one of the first companies to move into the business park.
And they did it pretty intelligently too. Those business parks aren’t in the way of residential communities. They’re beautiful commercial buildings, great business parks, and they bring in tax revenue for our city. And in my opinion, that’s a big part of what keeps our city flourishing.
A lot of that growth happened while Darrell Essex was running the city. He was the city’s manager for 34 years, starting in 1962, and in that time Cypress went from about 4,000 people to over 46,000 people. And before that, there’s just a bunch of farmland. There’s even a park named after him, and if you see my other videos, you know I love that park.
So decisions made a long time ago are a big reason the streets look how they do, why our buildings look how they do, and why the city runs the way it is. And it’s a very tight knit community here. When people buy here, they tend not to leave. It’s a small town feel, and there’s a lot of pride living in Cypress. I believe it just comes from being accountable and looking out for our city.
Why Yamaha is leaving (4:04)
And honestly, Yamaha’s been leaving Cypress one piece at a time for a long time. They moved their marine business to Kennesaw, Georgia back in 1999. Motorsports followed them in 2019. So by this year, the only thing left here was corporate and finance.
Then in March, they announced the rest is going to Georgia too, which is about 250 jobs. The reason was what they called structural reforms, basically making the company more profitable with tariffs and costs going up.
And this isn’t the first time Cypress has been through this. In 2019, Mitsubishi Motors moved its North American headquarters out of Cypress to Tennessee after 31 years, and that was about 200 jobs. So that’s two big corporations leaving the same city in seven years. And I want you to hold on to that, because it’s going to matter when we get into what this means for Cypress.
Now here’s the part that matters if you live near it. Yamaha isn’t walking out tomorrow. They’re leasing the whole property back from Disney through December 31st, 2028. So if you drive down Katella next week, it’s gonna look exactly the same as it looks now. So it’s gonna take a little bit of time to get going.
Real quick, before I keep going. If you own in Cypress and news like this has you thinking about what you actually walk away with if you sold, I put together a seller guide. It walks you through how I price a home, what’s actually worth fixing before you list, and what it nets you at the end. It’s free, and the link’s in this video. Okay, back to it.
What Disney says it’s for (5:26)
So what does Disney actually want with 25 acres in Cypress? Here’s what they told the Orange County Register, word for word. This acquisition provides space that can actually support our long term operational needs for our continued growth and evolving business needs. They also said the campus will house back end operations.
So what does that mean in plain English? Back of house is pretty much everything that keeps the resort running that guests never see. Reporters have pointed out that it can include things like laundry and costuming, but Disney hasn’t said which departments are actually coming here. So nobody knows that part yet, and that’s still up in the air.
And I know somebody’s already typing in the comments that Disney’s building a theme park in Cypress. They’re not. There’s no ride coming to Katella. This is the behind the scenes side of Disneyland, and the land is zoned industrial.
Now, why would Disney need more room right now? I’m not gonna guess at what’s in Disney’s head, but here’s what’s public. In May of 2024, Anaheim City Council unanimously approved DisneylandForward, which is the plan that lets Disney expand the resort, with at least $1.9 billion going in over the next decade. Disney hasn’t connected those two things, so I’m not going to either. I’m just putting both facts in front of you.
And one more thing worth knowing. Disney’s already the biggest employer in Orange County, and now they own a full city block in Cypress.
The number that tells you what Cypress land is worth (6:44)
Alright, so here’s the number I mentioned at the top. Disney paid about $4.6 million an acre for this land. Now let me give you something to compare that to.
Back in 2021, Melia Homes bought seven acres of the old Los Alamitos Race Course overflow parking, which is also on Katella, for $30 million. That works out to about $4.3 million an acre. And that land is Belmont today, the townhomes that sold out in 2024.
So 4.6 million an acre now, 4.3 million an acre five years ago, both for land in Cypress. And I want to be fair about this comparison, because they’re not the same kind of land. One came with buildings on it and industrial zoning. The other one is going to be homes. And they’re five years apart.
But when two big buyers both buy land right around four and a half million an acre in Cypress, that tells me serious money still sees real value in the city. That’s a really comforting feeling if you own here. Companies still investing in our city brings more tax revenue for Cypress, and that’s what helps a city like ours flourish.
What this means for Cypress (7:45)
So what does all this mean for Cypress? First, this is not another race track. Over at the Los Alamitos Race Track, the city approved close to 1,800 homes. This deal adds zero homes. It’s one business coming in as another one goes out.
Remember what I told you to hold on to. Mitsubishi left, Yamaha’s leaving, and this campus could have turned into a lot of things. Instead, the biggest employer in the county bought it to run its own operations. And in my opinion, that’s about as stable an owner as Cypress could have asked for.
If you live near Katella and Holder, nothing changes yet. Yamaha’s in there through the end of 2028. The one thing I’d keep an eye on, though, is traffic, with the racetrack build out coming on the same street. And Disney hasn’t said yet what operations are going here or when.
And if you own a home here, I think this is a net benefit. But honestly, one big company leaving and one coming in, it’s not gonna change the value of your home next month. It’s just a very interesting thing to watch and know, since our city is changing. That’s why I’m covering what’s happening here.
Good thing or bad thing? (8:45)
Drop a comment and tell me if you think Disney in Cypress is a good thing. And if you haven’t seen it yet, my breakdown on the Los Alamitos racetrack is right here. I’m Austin Criss, and I’ll see you on the next one.
If you own in Cypress or you’re thinking about buying or selling here and want to talk through what this means for you, call or text me at 714.600.1176. Always Ask Austin.
About Austin Criss
Austin Criss is a REALTOR® with RE/MAX TIFFANY serving Cypress, Buena Park, Anaheim, and Orange County, California. Licensed in California since 2020 and working in real estate since 2017, he helps first-time buyers and move-up families from first question to closing. Call or text him at 714.600.1176, or read more about Austin.