End of Boeing 717 could yield 90 acres of prospects for Long Beach
Empty site will be a developer's dream after firm shuts 717 plant.
By Felix Sanchez
Staff writer
LONG BEACH — In a city that basically is built out, with little undeveloped land available for new commercial projects, news that nearly 90 acres may soon be free has planners salivating.
The prospects come with the announcement that the Boeing Co. is shuttering its Long Beach 717 passenger jet assembly line in mid-2006, marking the end of commercial airplane production in Southern California.
There are an estimated 90 acres at the 717 plant. Much of the land is designated for parking, but is largely unused, and at least 25 acres are where giant manufacturing hangars — one housing the 717 assembly line — now sit.
It will be the latest big parcel of Southern California land available after falling into disuse because of the demise of the once-bustling aerospace industry.
Among the recent examples:
* A former Boeing factory in Downey that once contributed to manned journeys to the moon.
* A Loral Aeroneutronics-Ford Aerospace property in Newport Beach that once housed missile-producing facilities.
* A Lockheed Martin Corp. research and development complex in Burbank.
* A 260 acres of land across from the Boeing Co. property in Long Beach that housed Douglas Aircraft Co.
Those properties are being redeveloped into office buildings, retail shopping centers, industrial parks, hotels, office space, parks, space museums, sound stages for movies and other mixed-use projects.
The 717 property remains a question mark.
"It's still too early. No decisions have been made," Long Beach Boeing spokesman Tom Brabant said. "We will continue to study it."
Irvine-based Boeing Realty turns raw land to fully developed, high-tech office buildings and has projects in various stages of development nationwide.
Some of its biggest include a 240-acre business park adjacent to the Kent Space Center in Washington state; the Pacific Gateway Business Center in Seal Beach, with 48 acres of surplus land; and the Harbor Gateway Business Center in Los Angeles.
In all, Boeing Realty's projects, when built, have an expected market value of $1.5 billion.
In addition to the 600,000-square-foot 717 assembly hangar, Building 80, there are three main structures, including a paint hangar and empty assembly building, as well as office space and parking lots.
Building 80, with its distinctive neon-lighted "Fly DC Jets" logo atop the hangar, was built in 1957 and covered construction for the DC-8, DC-9, MD-80 and MD-90.
Jack Kyser, chief economic forecaster with the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp., said the 717 plant and land will be a gift to the real estate health of the market.
"For a city that is highly developed, getting this chunk of land, this size of land, it literally is a gift," Kyser said.
But Kyser said the city has to take great care determining how the site should be developed.
"You have to look at what type of jobs were at this site, and (what) you want at this site," Kyser said. "Too often you see cities take old industrial land and put in retail."
That can be a bad trade-off, Kyser said, especially when high-paying aerospace jobs are supplanted with lower-paying retail jobs.
Robert Alperin, a Long Beach real estate broker with Cushman & Wakefield, said the property has the potential for any number of uses: homes, retail, light industrial, office space, parks and schools.
Most likely, it will end up as a mixed-use project, Alperin said.
"The entitlement process is something that I'm sure Boeing is now trying to get their arms around," Alperin said. "What is it they want?
"It creates opportunities for developers and business owners, real estate people and brokers," he said. "I think this is a great opportunity for people in all kinds of business to use creativity to pursue whatever it is that they want to do."
Likely, it will be something along the lines of the recently approved Douglas Park project, a mixed-use development by Boeing Realty of 3.3 million square feet of commercial, retail, office space, research and development, hotel and 1,400 residences on 260 acres of land that once housed Douglas Aircraft plane assembly plants, Alperin said.
Douglas Park is located at the intersection of Lakewood and Carson, just north of Long Beach Airport. At the height of Douglas Aircraft, the plant had more than 50,000 workers, and produced an airplane every 120 minutes.
The 717 factory complex is east of the future Douglas Park, across Lakewood Boulevard and bounded by offices for Boeing Commercial Aviation Services to the north and SkyLinks Golf Course to the south.
Alperin wouldn't put a price tag on the value of the 717 land.
"If it's used for high-density housing, it will be worth a whole lot more than if it's used for office buildings," he said.
Empty site will be a developer's dream after firm shuts 717 plant.
By Felix Sanchez
Staff writer
LONG BEACH — In a city that basically is built out, with little undeveloped land available for new commercial projects, news that nearly 90 acres may soon be free has planners salivating.
The prospects come with the announcement that the Boeing Co. is shuttering its Long Beach 717 passenger jet assembly line in mid-2006, marking the end of commercial airplane production in Southern California.
There are an estimated 90 acres at the 717 plant. Much of the land is designated for parking, but is largely unused, and at least 25 acres are where giant manufacturing hangars — one housing the 717 assembly line — now sit.
It will be the latest big parcel of Southern California land available after falling into disuse because of the demise of the once-bustling aerospace industry.
Among the recent examples:
* A former Boeing factory in Downey that once contributed to manned journeys to the moon.
* A Loral Aeroneutronics-Ford Aerospace property in Newport Beach that once housed missile-producing facilities.
* A Lockheed Martin Corp. research and development complex in Burbank.
* A 260 acres of land across from the Boeing Co. property in Long Beach that housed Douglas Aircraft Co.
Those properties are being redeveloped into office buildings, retail shopping centers, industrial parks, hotels, office space, parks, space museums, sound stages for movies and other mixed-use projects.
The 717 property remains a question mark.
"It's still too early. No decisions have been made," Long Beach Boeing spokesman Tom Brabant said. "We will continue to study it."
Irvine-based Boeing Realty turns raw land to fully developed, high-tech office buildings and has projects in various stages of development nationwide.
Some of its biggest include a 240-acre business park adjacent to the Kent Space Center in Washington state; the Pacific Gateway Business Center in Seal Beach, with 48 acres of surplus land; and the Harbor Gateway Business Center in Los Angeles.
In all, Boeing Realty's projects, when built, have an expected market value of $1.5 billion.
In addition to the 600,000-square-foot 717 assembly hangar, Building 80, there are three main structures, including a paint hangar and empty assembly building, as well as office space and parking lots.
Building 80, with its distinctive neon-lighted "Fly DC Jets" logo atop the hangar, was built in 1957 and covered construction for the DC-8, DC-9, MD-80 and MD-90.
Jack Kyser, chief economic forecaster with the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp., said the 717 plant and land will be a gift to the real estate health of the market.
"For a city that is highly developed, getting this chunk of land, this size of land, it literally is a gift," Kyser said.
But Kyser said the city has to take great care determining how the site should be developed.
"You have to look at what type of jobs were at this site, and (what) you want at this site," Kyser said. "Too often you see cities take old industrial land and put in retail."
That can be a bad trade-off, Kyser said, especially when high-paying aerospace jobs are supplanted with lower-paying retail jobs.
Robert Alperin, a Long Beach real estate broker with Cushman & Wakefield, said the property has the potential for any number of uses: homes, retail, light industrial, office space, parks and schools.
Most likely, it will end up as a mixed-use project, Alperin said.
"The entitlement process is something that I'm sure Boeing is now trying to get their arms around," Alperin said. "What is it they want?
"It creates opportunities for developers and business owners, real estate people and brokers," he said. "I think this is a great opportunity for people in all kinds of business to use creativity to pursue whatever it is that they want to do."
Likely, it will be something along the lines of the recently approved Douglas Park project, a mixed-use development by Boeing Realty of 3.3 million square feet of commercial, retail, office space, research and development, hotel and 1,400 residences on 260 acres of land that once housed Douglas Aircraft plane assembly plants, Alperin said.
Douglas Park is located at the intersection of Lakewood and Carson, just north of Long Beach Airport. At the height of Douglas Aircraft, the plant had more than 50,000 workers, and produced an airplane every 120 minutes.
The 717 factory complex is east of the future Douglas Park, across Lakewood Boulevard and bounded by offices for Boeing Commercial Aviation Services to the north and SkyLinks Golf Course to the south.
Alperin wouldn't put a price tag on the value of the 717 land.
"If it's used for high-density housing, it will be worth a whole lot more than if it's used for office buildings," he said.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home