On the east side of Van Nuys Airport sits an empty 6-acre plot of land along Valjean Avenue – the last of its kind around the San Fernando Valley airfield. In past years, there had been interest in developing the land with aircraft hangars but those proposals fell through and the acreage remained fallow. Now airport owner Los Angeles World Airports is developing a plan that would address how to maximize the use of the empty parcel, as well as older, obsolete buildings spread around the airfield. The redevelopment plan, to be funded by private businesses, is a follow up to a master plan completed in 2006, which outlined future development of airport property. But that was before the recession hit and slowed or halted many projects. So far, airport tenants and leaseholders support LAWA’s concept of redevelopment, but they want to make sure the right mix of aircraft types and businesses are kept at the airfield. In addition, they want to ensure new facilities keep pace with demand – but do not saturate the market. One key aspect of the plan – combining small parcels to make larger ones – already has raised a red flag with Eliot Sanders, who owns an insurance brokerage on airport grounds and is chairman of the Van Nuys Airport Citizens Advisory Council. Smaller parcels make sense at a general aviation airport such as Van Nuys because the tenant mix tends to skew in favor of small businesses that do not need so much land, said Sanders, owner of Planned Approach Benefits Inc. “It is not like at LAX where you can parcel off a large chunk to a national airline,” he said. The airport agency’s staff wants to get the Board of Airport Commissioners to sign off on the plan early next year after receiving comments from airport tenants, area residents and San Fernando Valley business advocates. The idea is to give the governing board a clear understanding of the airport’s future, said Steve Martin, chief operating officer for LAWA. “This should make it easier for them to put individual (land use) decisions in the context of a larger plan,” he said. Short window The plan’s guidelines could usher in a new era of development at the Valley airfield, which grew slowly in the years leading up to the completion of the airport master plan in early 2006, a process that took more than a decade. Van Nuys is one of the busiest general aviation airports in the world, though operations shrank during the recession. In 2008, there were 403,727 flights tracked by the FAA tower, a figure that dropped to 339,407 operations in 2010. Van Nuys serves business and personal jets, propeller aircraft and helicopters. Commercial aircraft do not use the airport. In the short window between finishing the master plan and the start of the recession, there had been movement on filling the former Jet Center, an underutilized 7-acre parcel with three hangars. Los Angeles County Fire Department stores its Super Scooper firefighting aircraft there, and an aircraft sales firm Western Commander is located on the grounds. Elite Aviation and then Castle & Cooke Aviation Services Inc. were in talks with LAWA in 2008 to develop the Jet Center property for a fixed-based operation, which offers fuel and other aircraft services. The talks, however, never got anywhere. Now, LAWA wants to put the Jet Center property on the backburner in favor of developing the 30.2-acre site fronted by Woodley Avenue. There, Syncro Aviation, an aircraft interior firm, occupies one hangar and charter company Jet Edge International and maintenance shop Western Jet Aviation occupies a second. “We could do something exciting with that parcel,” said Martin, who added some non-aviation uses are being explored. Airport tenants would accept non-aviation uses on the property provided they complement the aviation services offered, said Curt Castagna, president of the Van Nuys Airport Association, the tenant’s organization. Examples of complementary uses would be a technology park or light industrial, said Castagna, chief executive of Aerolease Aeroplex Group, a hangar leasing firm with facilities at Van Nuys. “That is a balanced approach that could be supported by the on-field business community and off-field stakeholders,” he said. Submitted bids Another parcel that was looked at closely last time around was the 5.8 acre Retlaw property along Valjean Avenue, the last empty parcel on the airport. The property had been leased by Retlaw Enterprises Inc., which was associated with the Disney family during the 1980s. The lease was terminated when improvements were not made to the property. In 2002, six aviation firms submitted bids to develop the land but LAWA rejected them to wait until the master plan was finished. In 2008, the airport commission was ready to accept another round of bids but then tabled the matter. Now, LAWA has received leasing interest from Clay Lacy Aviation, the long-time aircraft charter and management firm that leases the property to the north. Martin said Clay Lacy wants to use the space to consolidate where it parks its aircraft, and has included that property in negotiations for a new lease. Despite the slow pace of improvements, some were made over the last few years. Fixed base operator Castle & Cooke is building a 37,600 square foot hangar and 11,000 square feet for offices and maintenance shops on the site of an old hangar that has been demolished. The new hangar is expected to be nearly filled to capacity when it opens at the end of the year, said Tony Marlow, general manager of Castle & Cooke. And Pacific Aviation Development LLC is already reserving space at its $27.5 million The Park at Van Nuys for use exclusively by propeller aircraft. The project includes hangars, a terminal building with offices, meeting space, an observation deck and restaurant. Currently, piston aircraft are stored in several locations around the airport. The Park would consolidate them into a single area and then free up the space those aircraft previously occupied. “It is a land use strategy to put old facilities into a higher and better use,” Martin said. The Woodley Avenue site that LAWA wants to see redeveloped, for example, is one storage area and includes modular hangars that could be dismantled and moved to the Park. While not mandatory for piston aircraft owners to keep their planes in the designated area, they may prefer to be around others they can share equipment and tools with, Martin said. Largest leaseholder Another key part of the plan is working with Maguire Aviation, the largest leaseholder at the airport, which has the most lease obligations for improving its property. The aircraft management, hangar rental and fuel seller, owned by prominent Los Angeles real estate developer Robert Maguire, was supposed to complete more than 200,000 square feet in new construction on two properties by spring of last year. To date, Maguire has built 60,000 square feet of hangar and office space plus new sewer lines and storm water runoff improvements on its north property. On its south leasehold, Maguire built a 10,000 square foot terminal that is the Southern California base for NetJets, a Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary headquartered in Columbus, Ohio that is the nation’s largest business aircraft operator. Even with those projects, Maguire has long way to go to meet its obligations, though the firm has under review a new 20,000 square foot hangar to be constructed next to the former Skytrails terminal. “Maguire is working with LAWA on the square footage requirements in both the type of facilities and timelines so that they are in line with customer demand,” said Tim Wray, the company’s chief operating officer. One problem is the leases Maguire got stuck with when acquiring other aviation firms. Those leases set out a specific amount of square footage to be built, but they were developed at a different time – something LAWA understands. “We would not want them to build something that is inappropriate to the situation just to meet that obligation,” said LAWA’s Martin. Martin has given a presentation to the Van Nuys Airport Citizens Advisory Council and plans to meet soon with the Van Nuys Airport Association and the Valley Industry & Commerce Association. Sanders, of the citizen’s council, would like LAWA to hold other meetings with elected officials and residents living near the airport to get additional comments, particularly on how to keep small business at the airport.
Airfield May Be Ready to Spread Wings
