Tokyo Firm Will Build Port Facility, Wilson Says : Business: Governor makes the announcement during a 17-day Pacific Rim trade mission. He says the Wilmington project will create 100 jobs.

A Japanese firm will invest $40 million to construct a cold-storage facility near the Port of Los Angeles, Gov. Pete Wilson said Thursday.

In a speech before the American Chamber of Commerce in Osaka, Japan, Wilson said the investment by Konoike Transportation and Engineering Co. is expected to create 100 jobs, plus more than 500 construction jobs at the port during the storage facility’s development.

“Upon its completion, the Konoike facility will be the largest of its type on the West Coast of the United States,” Wilson said. “California is the gateway to the Pacific Rim, and with Konoike’s investment today, we will enhance transportation and trade between two of the world’s strongest economies.”

Konoike Transportation and Engineering, with headquarters in Tokyo and Osaka, is one of the oldest and most experienced firms in its field in Japan, Wilson said. It began operating in the Los Angeles area in 1985, and its new facility will be built in Wilmington to serve the Port of Los Angeles.

Konoike had hoped to build the cold-storage warehouse in March, 1991, on 11 acres the company owns in Wilmington. But those plans were delayed after a Long Beach businessman spread contaminated soil over the site in the 1400 block of Coil Avenue. Konoike sued Paul Bouchard, owner of Brent Petroleum, to force him to clean up the property.

Wilson and top California business leaders are on a 17-day trade mission to Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea and China in an effort to open export markets for California products and to boost foreign investment in the state.