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Back From the Dead in Downey
An abandoned 160-acre site, last occupied by a Boeing Co.
aerospace testing and engineering facility, is being converted
into a mixed-use development of mammoth proportions. The rectangular-shaped
site will include a 1.7 million sq.-ft. movie studio, 400,000
sq.-ft.shopping center and an 812,000-sq.-ft. Kaiser Permanente
medical complex.
By Greg Aragon
Downey hasn't had this much to crow about since the days
of NASA's Apollo missions.
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General contractor McCarthy Building
Cos. is about 80-percent complete on a 117,000-sq.-ft.
medical office building for owner Kaiser Permanente.
Other structures to be built on Kaiser's 30-acre campus
include a 657,000-sq.-ft. hospital and a 38,000-sq.-ft.
central plant. A construction start date has not been
set for a second medical office building, planned to
be 125,000 sq. ft. (photo by Greg Aragon).
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"I would say it's the biggest project in the city in
the last 40 years," Charles Voce, Downey's economic director,
said about the largest construction project in his city, a
$1 billion mixed-use development on the former site of Boeing
Co. "It's going to have a huge impact."
The project site is on the city's south side, bordered by
Lakewood and Bellflower boulevards to the east and west and
Imperial Highway and Stuart and Gray Road to the north and
south.
Downey, primarily an enclave of middle-income homes that
sprouted after World War II, has a population of 110,000.
It is in Los Angeles County, approximately 13 mi. southeast
of downtown Los Angeles.
In a Nutshell
The sprawling site entails the redevelopment of an abandoned
160-acre aerospace manufacturing facility into four separately
owned projects: a 1.7 million-sq.-ft. movie studio; 400,000-sq.-ft.
"big box" retail center; 600,000-sq.-ft. Kaiser
Permanente hospital; and 13-acre park and learning center.
Between 1929 and 1999, the sprawling site was used as an
aerospace testing and engineering facility, where NASA developed
top secret and experimental aircraft for the U.S. military.
When the site's last tenant, the Boeing Co., ceased operations
in 1999, the land and approximately 30 buildings sat vacant-except
for an occasional film shooting for such movies as "Spiderman,"
"Austin Powers: Goldmember," "Catch Me If You
Can," "Terminator II," "Daredevil,"
and "The Italian Job."
Voce said the entire development is expected to create in
excess of 6,000 jobs, and the retail portion alone will generate
about $1 million a year in sales tax revenue for the city.
He added that the development is expected to create "a
couple of hundred construction jobs."
Huge Studio Being Built
The development's nod to the motion picture industry is called
Downey Studios, a development of Downey-based Industrial Realty
Group LLC. The $35 million endeavor, which broke ground in
April 2004, is currently about 60-percent complete and is
expected to be finished in fall 2006.
IRG president Stuart Lichter said that the huge new studio
will fill a Hollywood void.
"A lot of movies need big sets, and in L.A., all the
studios are on land that is very restricted," said Lichter,
who foresees the facility creating about 1,000 jobs.
"What we offer is a lot of land and a bigger stage than
anybody else in Los Angeles."
The complex, which sits on 80 acres in the southern portion
of the lot, is being built on the site where the Apollo spacecraft
and space shuttle were assembled for NASA. It is made up of
eight existing buildings, which will be used as stages, and
seven small buildings to be used as production facilities.
Project highlights include a 220,000-sq.-ft. sound stage
(the largest in North America, Lichter claimed); a massive
1 million-sq.-ft. building-the former space shuttle and airplane
assembly hangar-with a 10-ft.-deep indoor lake the size of
a football field; and two restaurant pads.
The venture is being constructed by IRG's own construction
team and is being designed by IRG architects in conjunction
with Pacific Palisades-based Wiley Carter Architects.
15 Buildings in Big-Box Center
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Downey Landing is the $80 million
retail segment of a major re-use project. The 35-acre
big-box shopping center, a development of Irvine-based
Eclipse Development Group, is scheduled to be completed
in November. The architect for the 15-building project
is Orange-based Architects Orange. Anaheim-based Lyle
Parks Jr. Inc. is serving as the general contractor
(photo by Greg Aragon).
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The nearly $80 million retail segment of the project, called
Downey Landing, is situated on 35 acres in the northern portion
of the tract. It is being developed by Irvine-based Eclipse
Development Group and built by Anaheim-based Lyle Parks Jr.
Inc. Orange-based Architects Orange is serving as architect.
When completed in November, the shopping area will feature
15 buildings, hosting retailers such as Staples, Old Navy,
Marshals, Michael's, Best Buy, PETsMART and Ross. There also
will be a 4,000-sq.-ft. indoor food court.
"I think Downey Landing is going to mean a lot to the
city and revitalize the area," said Jim Carlson, vice
president of marketing for Lyle Parks. "There was such
a demand for this thing, that it has been leased for a couple
of years."
Massive Medical Center
On the southern portion of the site, the Newport Beach office
of McCarthy Building Cos. Inc. began in February to replace
Kaiser Permanente's 545,000-sq.-ft. hospital in nearby Bellflower
with a 657,000-sq.-ft. medical center and two medical office
buildings totaling an additional 400,000 sq. ft.
Ontario-based HMC is the project architect.
"Stricter earthquake standards combined with a growing
patient population and continuing advances in medical science
require us to build a new medical center that will meet the
health needs of our patients as we move into the 21st Century,"
Dr. Martin Gilbert, area medical director for Kaiser Permanente,
said in a prepared statement.
The new $650 million medical campus will cover 30 acres and
include a full-service inpatient facility with 350 licensed
beds; an 85-bed emergency department; 82 departments; and
such subspecialty services as cardiology, gastroenterology,
neurology, nuclear medicine, oncology, orthopedics, surgery
and surgical urgent care.
The first medical office building will be completed in the
fall, while the other office structure, hospital and a 650-space
parking structure will be finished in late 2008.
Tribute to Aerospace Industry
The smallest section of the Downey Landing project is the
Columbia Memorial Space Learning Center and Public Park, currently
in conceptual planning.
The center will include a 20,000-sq.-ft. museum that will
honor America's space science legacy and the people who worked
in the aviation and aerospace industry in Downey. The city-owned
park is expected to include a sports field, picnic areas and
walking paths.
The Santa Monica office of Arquitectonica is doing the preliminary
design for the estimated $6 million project, which should
break ground in early 2006 and take about a year to complete.
Loren Behr, Downey's executive director of the learning center,
said that the center's as-yet-to-be-determined design "will
be something that is appropriate to the subject."
"There will be a lot of things for young kids to learn
about science and also more historical information for older
people," Behr said. "I think that people who are
interested in NASA history and Downey's role in the space
race, will be interested in coming."
Listed below are links to additional
stories included in the Los Angeles/Long Beach Market Report:
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