Arizona Firm to Buy 103-Acre Lockheed Site

An Arizona development company has agreed to buy a roughly 103-acre site from Lockheed Martin Corp. that city planners consider the cornerstone of the planned Media District North, officials said Friday.

Vestar Development Co. of Phoenix has agreed to purchase the parcel, which has been controversial because of neighbors’ concerns over contamination, and a sale may be finalized by the end of the month, city and Lockheed officials said.

Vestar plans a mix of retail and media-related production and office facilities as well as a hotel.

“We’re very excited about it,” said Robert M. Tague, the city’s community development director. “That is a key site for the development of the . . . the Media District North.”

The sale price and details about Vestar’s development plans for the site, which is near Burbank Airport, were not immediately available.

Maureen Curow, a spokeswoman for Lockheed, said the two companies have reached an agreement in principle that should be finalized within the next few weeks. Vestar officials were unavailable for comment.

City officials said Vestar, like other companies that showed interest in the land, was aware that Burbank was eager to satisfy the need for space of the area’s bustling media and entertainment industry.

The planned extension of the existing Media District, which is home to the Walt Disney Co., Warner Bros. and NBC, would help the city continue reaping the benefits of a thriving industry, including growing tax revenues and jobs.

“We have consistently told [developers] we’re looking for a mix of retail and media-related production and office facilities,” Tague said.

Officials including Mayor Bill Wiggins and City Manager Robert R. Ovrom have said they favored developing the site as soon as possible, hopefully with businesses providing high-paying entertainment jobs.

Vice Mayor Bob Kramer said Friday that he doesn’t anticipate any problems with Vestar.

“I think it’s going to be received positively by the community,” Kramer said. “It should bring jobs. I don’t see a problem with that.”

Kramer and other officials said the development plan is separate from ongoing complaints from neighbors who say they may have been stricken with cancer or other sicknesses because of past Lockheed contamination in Burbank.

The aerospace giant, which left the area in 1990, recently reached a $60-million, out-of-court settlement with about 1,350 residents who lived near its sites. Residents who were left out of the settlement have since sued Lockheed in federal court for unspecified compensatory and punitive damages, medical monitoring and other relief.

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Lockheed and city officials said the land is being cleaned by a vapor extraction system. Development can proceed at the same time as the cleanup, they said.

Tague said construction could begin as early as next spring. The site should be completely clear for construction by late next year, he said.

“That’s what we would hope to achieve,” he said. “We’re now bringing in clean industry. That’s important to us.”

The timing would work well with a city plan to spend $10 million to begin infrastructure improvements in the area that would become the new district. That work would include upgrading streets, sidewalks, sewers and electrical systems as well as landscaping.

The parcel, which is west of the Golden State Freeway, would make up much of Media District North. The planned district, set for an area about three miles north of the existing district, would likely cover more than 200 acres.

“We’re moving in the right direction,” Tague said.