City OKs Grant for Site Near Airport

A campaign to give a vacant industrial site near Van Nuys Airport an economic lift got a boost when a City Council panel approved a $2-million grant request to help convert the site into a business park.

The grant proposal for the Marquardt Industrial Office Park subdivision project is expected to go to the City Council for its approval as soon as Friday.

The grant, to be funded by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s earthquake assistance program, would be used to make some of the $5.2-million infrastructure improvements needed to complete the project. The developer would pay the remaining costs, officials said.

Councilman Mike Hernandez, who chairs the Community and Economic Development Committee, expressed concern about moving the grant request forward because the developer has not yet secured financing.

Hernandez reluctantly agreed, despite concern it would tie up funds that could be used for other projects should this one die from lack of backing.

“It’s important that this project happens because of what we’re being asked to do,” he warned.

The developer’s representatives said they anticipate securing a loan by Dec. 26.

Mayor Richard Riordan and Councilman Joel Wachs have pushed the grant proposal through to make a Jan. 1 deadline to submit project-funding requests to the federal agency.

The $24.5-million revitalization project would convert 55 acres near Saticoy Street and Hayvenhurst Avenue into a business park.

It would contain 700,000 square feet of industrial buildings, to be constructed over the next three years.

City officials said the site at one time housed more than 5,000 workers, but today has about 250. Marquardt Co. officials said it has a number of potential tenants that would bring the number to between 500 and 1,000 employees.