Center’s Leases to Benefit City : Santa Fe Springs Project to Bring Jobs, History Park

History, recreation and jobs will be combined in the $47-million, 67-acre Heritage Corporate Center under construction in Santa Fe Springs. The project will also provide a stream of income for the city.

A joint venture of the city’s redevelopment agency and Costa Mesa-based developer O’Donnell, Brigham & Partners, the mixed-use cultural/industrial center at Telegraph Road and Norwalk Boulevard will produce 250 jobs during the construction phase that will be completed next January, and 1,000 permanent jobs when the business center is fully leased, according to Ron Kernes, city councilman and former mayor.

City Participates in Profits

“The city has a participating ground lease with O’Donnell, Brigham & Partners which will last 70 years and includes income from lease payments and adjusted gross income,” according to Mayor Al Sharp. “We’re very pleased with this mutually beneficial arrangement.”

He estimated that the city will receive $19 million over the next 15 years from lease payments and 20% of the adjusted gross income.

Kernes said that the project--consisting of 761,000 square feet of floor space--will be the largest in the city’s history. The complex will include the six-acre, $5-million Heritage Park, a historical restoration site that will be developed by the city and is scheduled to be completed in the summer of 1987.

The park will be reconstructed to reflect the 1890s era, as well as the earlier mission period, with formal gardens, an aviary, fountains, an orchard and a botanical conservatory, Kernes said. A reconstructed carriage barn will be the location for an interpretive center on the city’s past and will also provide a location for weddings, meetings and theatrical events.

Another focal point at the entrance to the park will be a reconstructed windmill/water tower with an observation deck allowing visitors to view the entire park.

Offices, Industrial Buildings

The $21-million first phase will include more than 430,000 square feet of office, business, tech/service center and industrial space, according to Blair Armstrong, resident partner of O’Donnell, Brigham & Partners/Southern. The breakdown includes one three-story, 49,606-square-foot office building, three one-story service buildings with mezzanines, four business park buildings and five industrial/warehouse structures.

“Later phases of development will include a child-care facility, bank, restaurant, health club and other office and service buildings,” Armstrong said.

Half of the site was an old oil field, while the other half is a trucking terminal, according to J.R. Wetzel of O’Donnell, Brigham. He added that this is his firm’s first project in Santa Fe Springs, although the company has developed projects in Cerritos, Montebello, Los Alamitos, Rancho Cucamonga, Irvine and Ontario, as well as elsewhere in California, in the state of Washington and in Alaska.

Thirtieth Street Architects, Newport Beach, designed the park, while Himes Peters & Associates, Costa Mesa, designed the corporate center. Four brokers from Grubb & Ellis Co.’s Torrance, San Gabriel Valley and Anaheim offices are handling leasing.

Wells Fargo Bank provided the financing for the corporate center, and Oltmans Construction Co., Whittier, is the general contractor.

Sharp added that the project is in keeping with the latest development trends that combine childcare centers, health clubs, dining places and business facilities in one location.