South Bay : FROM JETS TO MALLS

Aerospace giant McDonnell Douglas has announced plans to convert a former manufacturing plant in Harbor Gateway into a shopping center and office complex for research and development firms.

Company officials have been examining alternative uses for the 169-acre property at 190th Street and Normandie Avenue since it closed in 1993. The decades-old plant manufactured aircraft parts and employed 5,000 workers.

Tom Overturf, director of development for the company’s realty division, said McDonnell Douglas has contracted with a developer and plans to break ground on a 40-acre retail center next year. Office space will be constructed in a later phase, and the company plans to keep 2.3 million square feet of the property for warehousing and other uses.

The company’s plans compete with a similar proposal drafted by rival aerospace firm Lockheed Martin Corp., which call for converting to retail use 69 acres of land next to the McDonnell Douglas property that had been used for manufacturing.

Lockheed officials could not be reached for comment, but Overturf and Los Angeles city officials expressed doubts that both retail centers could be viable.

Barry Glickman, spokesman for City Councilman Rudy Svorinich Jr., who represents Harbor Gateway, said he hoped that the companies could work together to create a mutually beneficial project.

“We’re trying to schedule a meeting between our office and the two of them to see if they can try and work it out together,” Glickman said.