Airport Bids to Get Review

Los Angeles airport commissioners, questioning whether the process for awarding a Van Nuys jet center lease was fair, ordered agency staff Monday to reevaluate the eight proposals submitted for the site.

Commissioners also told the staff to interview the top three finishers in the competition before selecting one to recommend.

The board’s action comes after some of the companies that submitted proposals filed formal protests, contending that the airport agency ignored its own criteria and bowed to political influence to recommend that the lease go to billionaire David Murdock.

Murdock, who contributed $100,000 to Mayor James K. Hahn’s 2002 campaign against San Fernando Valley secession and $1,000 toward the mayor’s reelection, owns Castle & Cooke Aviation Services Inc.

Commissioner Peter Weil said the Los Angeles World Airports staff needed to reevaluate the proposals and conduct interviews to “help us understand why Castle & Cooke was picked over someone else.”

Murdock said he was disappointed and criticized the airport for allowing “derelict, tired old buildings” on the 7.3-acre site.

He said the new jet center development he is proposing would be “better than any facility built anywhere in America.”

One of the biggest donors to Hahn’s anti-secession campaign, Murdock told the board that his contribution had nothing to do with the mayor or the airport but was aimed at helping keep the city together.

The staff of Los Angeles World Airports -- the agency that operates the Van Nuys airfield -- said Murdock’s Castle & Cooke was chosen because it proposed to build new facilities on the site.

The staff stressed that the mayor’s office played no role in the selection.

The jet center currently has three hangars, two office buildings and a fuel farm. As they are, the facilities will generate $25.4 million in rent for the city over the next 30 years, said Jerome Copelan, deputy executive director of business development for the airport agency.

One company proposed paying rent that would generate $26.8 million, Copelan said, while Castle & Cooke’s proposal would generate $5.7 million in rent but a total of $28.9 million in financial benefits for the city.

Under Castle & Cooke’s proposal, the company would pay the city $1 million to buy the city-owned buildings and would invest another $22.2 million in capital improvements over 30 years.

The company plans to demolish the current facilities and then build 120,000 square feet of hangar space as well as 37,500 square feet of offices and shops.

Commissioners, however, challenged Copelan’s financial analysis.

“We’re kind of comparing apples and oranges,” Commissioner David Voss said. “This proposal before you ... why would you take less rent?”

Commissioners also expressed concern that Castle & Cooke’s plan could exceed what current zoning allows, and that airport staff didn’t take into account the possibility that the company might be limited to building a smaller facility.

“What if something happens and they can’t complete this job?” said Cheryl Petersen, vice president of the board.

Castle & Cooke’s competitors praised the decision to take a second look at the proposals.

“Why would you consider a proposal to tear down an existing facility ... including an 18-year-old hangar, and do away with the rent going to the city?” asked Bob Mays, former president of the jet center and now a consultant for Western Jet Aviation Inc., one of seven other companies that had submitted proposals for the site.

“Just because someone is a big donor to the mayor doesn’t mean it’s in the best interest of LAWA and the citizens of Los Angeles.”