San Fernando Valley : From Aerospace to Show Business

A new $7.3-million film industry building has opened on what used to be a parking lot owned by the Lockheed Aircraft Co., marking the first time that Lockheed property has been redeveloped since the former aerospace giant pulled out of the city.

The 116,000-square-foot facility in Burbank will be leased by a Burbank-based subsidiary of the Bayer Corp. that manufactures motion picture film in Europe and distributes it in California, among other activities.

“The changes in aerospace and the pullout of Lockheed . . . usually has a devastating effect. A changeover of this type of land from a military-type of use to this type of use is very significant,” said John E. Moseley, whose company, SMC Properties of Calabasas, developed the land.

Just south of the new Burbank Airport Metrolink station, the site is the first Lockheed land to be recycled since the aerospace firm pulled out of Burbank in 1990, said Jim O’Neil of the city Community Development Department.