Lowe to Acquire 105-Acre Northrop Site Near LAX

Los Angeles developer Lowe Enterprises Inc. has agreed to purchase one of the largest pieces of commercial land in Los Angeles County--105 acres owned by Northrop Grumman Corp. near Los Angeles International Airport.

The site, which borders the Century Freeway near Crenshaw Boulevard in Hawthorne, was the object of intense bidding this year as planned expansion at LAX prompted developers to seek sites to build freight storage facilities.

However, a yearlong city moratorium on new construction of such facilities--which ends next summer--helped foil those plans. Now Lowe plans to spend $150 million to buy the site and develop office and industrial buildings and a retail/entertainment center.

“It’s an excellent industrial location in a market that is underserved,” said Lowe Vice President Craig Furniss. “And it has excellent visibility from the freeway.”

The property currently houses three electronics manufacturing and engineering buildings. Those operations are being transferred to facilities in Illinois, according to a Northrop spokesman. Lowe officials are not sure if they will keep or raze the buildings.

The purchase is expected to close in the first quarter of 1999, Furniss said. However, it would be at least a year before construction could start on any of the 1.25 million square feet of planned buildings.

A partnership of Overton Moore & Associates and Kearney Real Estate Co. had agreed to buy the property from Northrop earlier in the year, but the deal fell through, according to an Overton Moore official. Downsizing had forced Northrop to add 48 acres to the deal, boosting the price out of reach, the official said.