Spotlight

Spotlight 8-9/mike1st/mark2nd Sylmar Year Founded: 1890 Population: 75,000 Origins: The Spaniards moved to the area in the 1700s and founded the San Fernando Mission there. In 1890, some Illinois businessmen moved to the area, planted an olive grove and set up an olive packing plant. In the 1920s, the area became known for its tuberculosis sanitarium and as the setting for such pioneering films as “Birth of a Nation.” Business Profile: Primarily industrial product companies whose output ranges from medical products to audio parts to solar-energy components. Some commercial strip centers. By JENNIFER NETHERBY Staff Reporter The community of Sylmar, with some of the only sizable vacant tracts of land left in the San Fernando Valley, is booming with construction activity. Signs abound that the robust economy is rippling into this community in the northeastern corner of the San Fernando Valley. Wooden frames of new housing tracts are plentiful, as are recently completed industrial buildings. And plenty more is on the way. “There’s some major, major development,” said Chamber of Commerce President Bonnie Bernard. “It gives more importance to the community. And it’s rejuvenating the community’s residents and businesses.” The majority of Sylmar’s activity is concentrated in its two new business parks Royal-Clark Development Co.’s Cascades Business Park and World Oil Co.’s Valley Gateway Business Park. The two parks contain 80 acres between them. In addition, major housing projects are being developed by Kaufman & Broad Home Corp., Braemer Urban Development and a non-profit called the Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing. The Cascades Golf Course, an 18-hole public course, is set to open in September. It will be the first public course in the Northeast Valley. Yet to date, Sylmar remains largely a hub of regional distribution facilities. Among those with distribution hubs there are the Coca Cola Co., Pepsico, United Parcel Service. A major attraction for such operations is Sylmar’s location at the crossroads of five freeways the 5, 210, 118, 405 and 14. Besides regional distribution operations, other businesses in Sylmar include several commercial plant nurseries, the Stetson Ranch Equestrian Park, and some strip malls with mom-and-pop-type shops. The community’s residential sector remains dominated by rural-style homes, many with horse stables. Sidewalks are essentially nonexistent on Sylmar residential streets, as are tract homes. The most active area of Sylmar is the Cascades Business Park, near the juncture of the 210 and 5 interstates. The 66-acre project is designed to ultimately contain 2 million square feet of space. About 600,000 square feet of that has been completed, and leased out to such tenants as of Frito Lay and MS Aerospace. Prudential Real Estate has signed on to build three new speculative buildings on the site, with a combined 364,000 square feet of space. A key enticement for luring tenants to the Cascades Business Park is its adjacent 18-acre golf course, said Feema Lal, a CB Richard Ellis Inc. leasing agent for the park. Another enticement has been that Cascades is one of the few sites of modern, affordable industrial space in L.A. “Glendale, Burbank and Pasadena already have a low like 2 percent vacancy rate on their industrial spaces, so it’s hard for companies that want to work within L.A. to find anything,” Lal said. “Sylmar is a feasible solution for them.” Sylmar not only allows companies to stay within the city, rather than relocating farther out to Simi Valley or Santa Clarita, it also offers cheaper lease rates than most other parts of the Valley. Sylmar’s industrial asking lease rates start at 56 cents a square foot, per month. And industrially zoned land sells for about $13 a square foot, Lal said. Office space leases for around $1.68 a square foot, per month. The Cascades Business Park is not the only industrial project under development in Sylmar, either. World Oil Co. of South Gate is developing the $11 million Valley Gateway Business Park. The nine-acre property, on Roxford Street, has been designed to contain 168,000 square feet of speculative industrial space, in the style of World Oil’s Irvine business park. “What’s happening here, especially with World Oil, is it’s helping other industries recognize Sylmar as an important stopping place where they can centralize,” Bernard said. Businesses moving into Sylmar’s new industrial parks are bringing not just jobs, but residents as well. In response, Kaufman & Broad is developing a 450-home project, called Carey Ranch, which is scheduled to be built out this year. The project’s median home price is $230,000. In south Sylmar, near the community’s border with the city of San Fernando, a so-called “transit village” is being built, called Village Green. The project is designed to contain two housing projects, a Metrolink train station and day-care center. The train station and day-care center are slated to open in September. The larger of the two housing projects, a 300-home development directly across the street from the train station, is a joint venture of Braemer Urban Development and the Lee Group. The second housing project is a 186-home development by the Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing. It is to be among the most ambitious energy-efficient home developments ever undertaken. The houses are to feature extra-thick insulation, natural gas air conditioners, solar roof panels that generate electricity for lighting and appliances, special windows that block most ultra-violet rays and other eco-safe amenities. With the expected influx of new residents, Sylmar community leaders are hoping to lure some retailers, such as Target and Trader Joe’s. “It’s very disheartening,” chamber president Bernard said of the dearth of retailers. “We have to go to Valencia or Northridge just to buy a pair of designer jeans.” Bernard said most retailers don’t see Sylmar as a viable business location. But with hundreds of new homes ranging from the upper $100,000s to $300,000 and a new golf course about to open, Bernard said she is hoping retailers will eventually change their minds. “It’s tough,” she conceded.