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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

Plans Moving On N. Valley Industrial Site

Trammell Crow Company is moving forward with plans to develop a long awaited industrial park in Sun Valley. And the company will seek Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification for all of the buildings. “Right now we’re making changes to the site plan based on market dynamics to ensure the project is viable in the current economic climate,” said Greg Ames, principal of Trammell Crow, adding the company retained CBRE as its leasing agency. The development is located on 33 acres of land, which includes a portion of the city’s former Branford landfill. An industrial park has been proposed for the site since the early 2000s, but multiple attempts by other companies to develop the parcel have fallen through. Ames said the current plan is to develop 537,000 square feet of industrial space, divided into four mid-size and large buildings. The company is investing into traffic mitigation, neighborhood improvements and landscaping. And it will install a gas collection system on the portion of land that used to be the landfill. The site and development plans were entitled in April 2009, and the industrial park is being marketed as the Sun Valley Commerce Center. “We worked with the council district, mayor’s office and community stakeholders,” said Ames. The project met with little to no resistance from community groups, and when complete, should bring hundreds of jobs to the area. TC Branford Associates LLC, backed by the Trammell Crow Acquisition Fund II, purchased the parcel in June 2007 for $18.75 million through a competitive bankruptcy auction. The company spent the following six months conducting new geotechnical and environmental analyses. Ames said Trammell Crow could not carry forward the former developer’s entitlements, so the company basically had to start from scratch. “But it has been a great process,” he said, adding Trammell Crow is committed to bringing a high level of environmental sustainability to the project. It is redeveloping a former landfill site, and all of the buildings in the park will pursue LEED certification. The project will also bring some much needed new industrial space to the Valley, he said. Overall industrial vacancy rates in the San Fernando Valley have been historically low, compared to other markets. And expanding the amount of available space will have a nominal affect on vacancy rates, according to Ames. But the Valley needs new industrial space, because the majority of product is older and on its way to being obsolete. “If you consider economic and job growth, one factor that will limit these in the San Fernando Valley is lack of competitive and modern industrial space. This project is directed at solving that problem,” said Ames.

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