Former Refinery in Santa Fe Springs to Become an Industrial Park

In response to growing demand for industrial space, the family that owns the Thrifty Oil Co. broke ground Wednesday on the first phase of a 265-acre master-planned industrial park on the site of a former oil refinery in Santa Fe Springs.

The project is one of several in the area that will recycle old industrial property for new uses.

About 5 million square feet of new warehouse, manufacturing and retail space will be built on the site of a now mostly dormant oil distribution facility, according to the Golden Springs Development Co., which is also owned by the Orden family.

The first structure, a 250,000-square-foot building, is expected to be completed late next year. The entire project will take about a decade to complete.

Oil had been refined and stored on the site for more than 70 years. The property is occupied by the former Golden West oil refinery and more than a dozen large oil storage tanks, which are scheduled to be demolished, a company spokesman said.

In a separate development, Los Angeles-based Fremont Development Co. said Wednesday that it has purchased a 67.5-acre site in the South Bay from aerospace firm Lockheed Martin Corp. for $23.4 million. Fremont said it plans to build 1.5 million square feet of industrial space on the site, which is occupied by a now-shuttered aluminum-extrusion plant.