Chinatown Railroad Site to Be Redeveloped

A blighted, 32-acre railroad property northeast of downtown Los Angeles will be redeveloped into an industrial park with the help of $11.75 million in grants from the federal government, officials said. The project will be built on the old Cornfields site between the 5 and 110 freeways near Chinatown. Work on the 954,000-square-foot industrial park should begin early next year, said Dan Margolis, a spokesman for Mayor Richard Riordan. It is expected to be completed by the end of 2000. Officials hope the park will attract manufacturing, food-processing, distribution and import-export companies. For more than a century, the Cornfields was a railroad freight depot and switching yard. The site was one of 15 areas targeted by the mayor’s “Genesis L.A.” project to encourage economic development.