Growth Continues for Palmdale and Lancaster

Article #1

Antelope Valley Press

September 20, 2007

Mayor touts growth in State of the City address

By BOB WILSON
Valley Press Staff Writer

PALMDALE – Growth, growth and more growth were the topics of a State of the City address given Wednesday by Mayor Jim Ledford.

More shopping centers, restaurants, businesses, homes, recreation amenities, entertainment venues, education facilities, highways and airplane service, plus more efforts to keep residents safe were some of the numerous issues Ledford touched on during a lengthy, video-enhanced presentation to members and guests of the Palmdale Chamber of Commerce.

Ledford’s address prompted chamber Chairman Chuck Church to say, “I thought I saw a lot of growth in the last 14 years, but this new growth map that you’ve laid out for us gives a whole new meaning to the phrase, ‘You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.’ ”

In opening his presentation, Ledford reiterated that public safety is the top priority for the city’s leadership. That contention is borne out by the fact that the city spends $22 million, or 26% of its General Fund budget, on law enforcement, the mayor noted.

Community safety, quality education, strong infrastructure and abundant amenities are some of the factors for attracting new industries and shopping outlets, and the city is working to improve all of them, he said.

Ledford spent considerable time promoting community involvement in the city’s Partners for a Better Palmdale anti-crime program before focusing on city efforts to promote business.

Toward that end, the city is running television commercials in the greater Los Angeles market that tout Palmdale to new businesses, the mayor said.

Those commercials “have created some concern in the community” because the belief is the city is seeking new homebuyers, Ledford said.

“We don’t need to stimulate that, ladies and gentlemen. That’s coming already. But what it does do is show businesses looking to relocate to a place in Los Angeles County that not only is very affordable but has a great work force and excellent quality of life, some things that can’t be found in the L.A. basin,” he said.

To further promote business development, the city is working toward installing a new sewer line that will open the door for new construction along 10th Street West between avenues M and O, Ledford said.

Because of continued development along that roadway, 10th Street West is going to transform into the primary connector between Palmdale and Lancaster, he said.

Meanwhile, the city is laying the groundwork for a new power plant to lower electricity costs for companies doing business at U.S. Air Force Plant 42, which is “the economic engine” that has been powering the city for decades, the mayor continued.

To fuel that engine, the city has created the AERO Institute, an engineering school that is adding classes from Pepperdine University to those of six other nationally renowned institutions, Ledford said.

The institute “is an economic-development program” that helps contractors educate its future work force, he said.

Another aerospace-support project in the works is the development of a new freeway intended to connect Plant 42 – the site of L.A./Palmdale Regional Airport – with the Southern California Logistics Airport in Victorville, Ledford noted.

Construction of that connector could pave the way for the creation of an inland port, a hub for the distribution of goods entering and leaving the country, he said.

“There’s lots of great things going on in Palmdale, and there’s lots of opportunity for business,” Ledford said, pointing to the new stores, restaurants and hotels being constructed in and around the Antelope Valley Mall, 10th Street West, Rancho Vista Boulevard and The Place, 47th Street East and Avenue S.

Some of the newcomers will be a Ginza steak house, a Romy’s Cafe, a Taco del Mar, a Souplantation and a Claim Jumper restaurant, which will be one of several new eateries filling space in the mall left by the relocation of its Cinemark theater.

The old theater area will be remodeled to add an outdoor courtyard for the mall’s new restaurants, Ledford said.

Soon to fill a long-empty hangar at Plant 42 will be a contingent of NASA employees who now work at Edwards Air Force Base on the agency’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy program.

SOFIA is an airborne observatory that promises to provide clues to the origin of the universe. The program’s new home under a 25-year lease will be the vacant Site 9 hangar near 30th Street East and Avenue P, the mayor announced.

Across town, new developers are rapidly filling up vacant land around the construction site of the Palmdale Regional Medical Center, 10th Street West and Palmdale Boulevard, Ledford continued.

More than 1 million square feet of buildings are rising in response to the hospital’s construction, he said.

The mayor also reviewed the construction of the city’s new outdoor amphitheater and water-park facilities, offering information on how they will be expanded and improved.

The city is investing millions in new recreation amenities, libraries, parks, ball fields, swimming pools, theater productions, festivals, concerts, rodeos and equestrian events, Ledford noted.

“There is something in this community for everyone,” but one of the most important things is participating in efforts to fight crime, the mayor said, returning to the subject of Partners for a Better Palmdale.

“Our success really depends on you, how you get involved, how you engage, how you participate. Neighborhood Watch, Business Watch: You need to be in one of those,” he said. “Join with us to support law enforcement, and make Palmdale a great place to feel safe.”

Article #2

Antelope Valley Press

September 20, 2007

It’s Supercenter summer in AV

Wal-mart Supercenter Store features wide aisles, low shelves

By TINA FORDE
Valley Press Business Editor

LANCASTER – Employees and managers of Wal-Mart store No. 2951 at 1731 East Avenue J whooped and hollered Wednesday at the official “reopening” of the site as a Supercenter – the third Wal-Mart Supercenter opening in the Antelope Valley this summer and the 30th such opening in the state.

Antelope Valley Board of Trade Executive Director Josh Mann and Lancaster Mayor Henry Hearns hailed the transformation of the 222,000-square-foot store from a Wal-Mart discount store into a Supercenter. The store opened in 2001, providing an economic driving force for the east side, and never closed during the 18-month-long remodeling process.

The store now offers a complete line of groceries, fresh produce, a deli, a hair salon, a cellular phone center, a vision center, a McDonald’s, a branch of Banco Popular, a Mirastar gas station, a pharmacy, an expanded lawn and garden center and a tire and lube center. The roof is in the classic Greek style, and prepared stone blocks add an Old World ambience to the facade and to a wall that hides the rows of shopping carts.

The store has 34 registers and is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Store Manager Boake Terry , a 23-year veteran of Wal-Mart now managing his eighth store, said he has hired 120 additional employees, for a total of 421.

Sixty-one of the current employees, or associates, have worked at the store since it opened in 2001, said Human Relations Manager Art Bock.

“Thank you for continuing to do an outstanding job,” Bock said. “It was the associates who enabled us to expand to a Supercenter. That’s the sign of professionalism – to make things look easy. During construction, you made it look seamless, and you were keeping the store clean and neat for the customers. I thank you for that.”

Elizabeth Winn said, “I have been a Wal-Mart associate for 16 years. I grew up on the east side. I want you to know how excited the eastsiders are to have a Supercenter in our community. We are proud to be a store of the community.”

Article #3

Antelope Valley Press

September 20, 2007

Commission gives go-ahead to new Lancaster shopping center

By BOB WILSON
Valley Press Staff Writer

LANCASTER – In a unanimous decision, the city’s five planning commissioners voted Monday to award a conditional use permit for the construction of a new shopping center west of Jane Reynolds Park.

The center will consist of four buildings on three acres of vacant land on the northeast corner of Avenue J and Genoa Avenue.

One of the center’s buildings will have two levels, with 12,000 square feet of retail space on the first floor and 12,000 square feet of office space on the second floor, according to a report prepared for the commission’s review.

One of three one-story buildings at the center will have 4,000 square feet of space that will be used by a bank with a drive-through.

Another one-story building will have 2,500 square feet of space for a fast-food restaurant with a drive-through and 1,500 square feet of space for offices or retail sales.

The third one-story building would have 2,045 square feet of space for another fast-food outlet with a drive-through plus 1,700 square feet of space for offices or retail sales.

The center as a whole would have parking for 185 vehicles even though 189 are required. The other four spaces would be sacrificed in return for enhanced landscaping and an outdoor eating area, according to the report.

The center is expected to generate an average of 2,919 vehicle trips per day. Deliveries, trash pickups and parking lot sweeping would be limited to the hours between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m.

No conditions were adopted that placed limits on the hours of operation for the center’s tenants.