BURBANK : Business Wins City Loan to Fix Up Lockheed Site

The Burbank City Council has approved a $110,000 loan to fix up an abandoned Lockheed building to serve as the headquarters of a consortium that hopes to found an electric car industry on the resources of the troubled aerospace business.

The council, sitting as the city’s Redevelopment Agency, on Tuesday unanimously approved the loan for Calstart, a group of private companies headed by Amerigon, a Monrovia electric vehicle firm that is coordinating efforts to build a prototype high-tech electric car.

Calstart is seeking $20 million to $25 million in federal and state funding to develop parts and prototypes for the ambitious project, officials said.

“I’m very pleased,” said Mayor Michael R. Hastings. “I think we will now become the magnet for advanced technology for alternative vehicles. This could be the start of the Silicon Valley for electric cars, with Burbank as the hub.”

Under the loan agreement, the Redevelopment Agency will lend Calstart $110,000 to improve the building and set up the operation. The agreement stipulates that the loan will be forgiven at a rate of $30,000 for each year Calstart remains in Burbank as an “active promoter of electric vehicle technology.”