Abandoned GM Plant in Van Nuys May Be Developed : Sale: Negotiations with potential buyers are expected to result in plans for an industrial and retail complex that could generate 1,000 jobs.

A deal to sell the abandoned Van Nuys General Motors plant, shut down for nearly three years, is expected to be consummated this month, possibly as early as next week, sources familiar with the negotiations said Monday.

GM executives are said to be in discussion both at the company’s home base in Detroit and in Los Angeles with four potential buyers for the 100-acre site, once listed at $50 million but now being offered for $30 million.

Although negotiations for the property have gone in fits and starts in the past, sources believe a deal worth $20 million is now likely with one of the four developers, all of which are from Southern California.

Landing a buyer for the vacant lot would be a major boon to the city as it struggles to haul itself out of a recession that has lingered longer than in other parts of the country. City officials have been prodding GM to reach an agreement quickly.

“We would like General Motors to decide fairly quickly among the various suitors for the site. We want something to happen there as soon as possible,” said Rocky Delgadillo, an aide to Mayor Richard Riordan.

Chuck Licari, a GM spokesman in Detroit, declined to comment on a potential sale but confirmed that “there’s certainly interest in the property.”

The four prospective developers, three of them based in Los Angeles County, have all proposed a mix of industrial and retail businesses that would probably generate at least 1,000 jobs at a site where 2,600 employees once worked, sources close to the discussions said.

But city officials are seeking to limit the retail side as much as possible, since those jobs tend to pay less than most manufacturing jobs.

“We want to maximize the job creation. My preference would be all industrial, but that’s not likely in this economy,” said Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alarcon, who has been working to find a buyer for the site since his election in 1993. The abandoned plant sits in his district.

To speed up a sale, Riordan’s office has stepped in with a plan similar to one that allowed Hughes Aircraft to unload its shuttered Canoga Park facility last December.

If GM agrees to the plan, the company will actually sell the property at a loss to the Valley Jobs Recovery Corp., or VJRC, a nonprofit group formed by Riordan last fall to enable such deals. The difference between the sale price and the appraised value of the lot would count as a charitable donation to the nonprofit group, which GM could write off as a tax deduction. The developer would then buy the land from the VJRC.

A private brokerage has appraised the GM plant at $25 million. Selling the facility for $20 million would permit the auto giant to claim a $5 million deduction.

Delgadillo said the poverty of the neighborhood around the vacant auto assembly plant qualifies it for such a purchasing arrangement through the VJRC, as did the Hughes Aircraft facility’s location in an earthquake recovery zone. In that deal, Hughes reportedly sold half of its property for $15 million, far less than the appraised value. The land was purchased by Coast Federal Bank, which is expected to move its 700-worker office to the site.

But officials said going through the VJRC is only one possibility.

“If (the developers) can cut a deal directly with GM, that’s fine,” said VJRC President Ben Reznik, who said he, too, is optimistic that a sale will be struck soon.

Alarcon said he has been meeting with the potential buyers to sound out their willingness to include certain provisions in their proposals. The councilman said he wants the eventual developer to make some infrastructure improvements and to install retailers who would not directly compete with merchants at nearby Panorama City Mall.

Demolition of the buildings on the GM lot has already begun and is expected to be finished in September, except for a building the company will keep as a smog-testing lab. Environmental cleanup is nearly complete, spokesman Licari said.

The facility was put up for sale several months after the last car rolled off the plant’s assembly line in August, 1992. Several companies, such as Anheuser-Busch, have toured the site but none followed through to the point of purchase.