Preview: Class for Rent

It’s a story known to many cities these days: a once-busy strip mall loses anchor tenants and the vast spaces sit empty for years before getting filled – if at all. Meanwhile, fewer people stop by, the center gets old and sluggish, and that drives out more tenants. But the Palmdale Place strip mall along Palmdale Boulevard on the city’s west side is one of the lucky ones. A community college has leased more than 50,000 square feet there so it can reuse the long-vacant former Albertsons supermarket and adjoining medical offices as a satellite campus that will bring several thousands of students to the mall by next spring. Lancaster’s Antelope Valley College expects construction will soon start, pending state and city approvals, to convert 2301 E. Palmdale Blvd. into its new Palmdale campus. With nearly three times the space of its current site, the campus is expected to serve about 3,200 students to start, 5,000 in five years and eventually 7,000 if total enrollment swells to 30,000 by 2030 as projected. Read the full story in the July 11 issue of the San Fernando Valley Business Journal.