Lockheed Gift Will Expand Japanese Center

The San Fernando Valley Japanese American Community Center plans to expand its facilities by two-thirds this summer, thanks to the donation of a building by Lockheed Corp.

Lockheed, which has moved many of its operations out of its longtime Burbank plant, has offered the 7,700-square-foot building to the center. For its part, the community center will pay to have the building cut into four parts and moved to its facility in Pacoima.

“It’s a tremendous gift,” said Michael Motoyasu, the center’s second vice president who is coordinating the project. “It allows us to better serve the community, because we will have more of a facility to do our activities.”

The city of Los Angeles will soon be sending out notices to 800 Pacoima residents to inform them that the center will be adding the Lockheed building to its Branford Street facility. The Lockheed building will increase the center’s total space to 20,000 square feet. It will be used for additional dining, meeting and multipurpose space, officials said.

Motoyasu said he doubts that the project would create parking problems for neighbors because the center has a large car lot, but said it is possible that the expansion could cause increased traffic. The notices to neighbors--which the center is paying for--and a hearing to air community reactions, are required for the center to get a permit from the city that would allow the expansion to go forward.

The center will spend about $300,000 to move the building in four pieces and reconstruct it at the center’s Pacoima site. The price tag is a good deal because it would have cost $500,000 to $550,000 to construct the building, Motoyasu said.

He said the idea for the building’s transfer came in March, 1993, when Gene Matsushita, a friend who works for Lockheed Advanced Development Co., a division of Lockheed Corp., asked Motoyasu whether the community center might have some use for the building, an employee cafeteria scheduled for demolition.

After considering the costs of the acquisition, the center’s board of directors decided to accept the gift.

In July, the center selected Uchida Construction Co. of Palmdale as the contractor and Master House Movers of Encino as the mover for the project. Attorneys for the community center and Lockheed are now negotiating details of the transfer contract.

The center also is in the process of applying for a bank loan for the $300,000, which Motoyasu said he expects to get, using the center as collateral.

The center was established in 1951 and is open to anyone who is interested in pursuing Japanese culture, Motoyasu said. Facilities and programs include a Japanese school, martial arts studio, youth basketball program and senior citizens programs.