Developer to Purchase 103-Acre Lockheed Site

BURBANK —  Lockheed Martin Corp., which has been trying for nearly three years to sell off a 103-acre parcel near Burbank Airport, has signed a contract to sell the land to the Zelman Cos., a Los Angeles-based developer.

Escrow is expected to close near the end of the year, said Gail Rymer, a spokeswoman for Bethesda, Md.-based Lockheed Martin.

Rymer and Zelman officials declined to reveal the purchase price.

Lockheed previously announced that Zelman had been selected as the developer. The company said that a development agreement had been signed and that escrow had opened on the property.

Zelman plans to complete long-standing plans to build a $100-million retail, office and auto complex on the site, which was used for aircraft manufacturing when Lockheed was based in Burbank.

A previous deal to sell the property to Phoenix-based Vestar Development Co. fell apart when Vestar failed to complete escrow by a December 1998 deadline.

Before the parcel can be developed, an environmental impact report must be completed.

Rymer said Burbank’s environmental consultant is now updating the draft environmental report and a 1994 health risk assessment.

Earlier this week, Burbank City Councilman Ted McConkey said the 1994 report showed evidence of heightened cancer risks to nearby residents because of toxic substances on the site.

But other Burbank officials and Lockheed said the report was prepared before an environmental cleanup project was undertaken and that the findings were taken out of context.

“We finished all excavation of the topsoil, and the vapor extraction system [designed to remove toxic substances from the soil] has been working for almost two years,” Rymer said.

Ben Reiling, Zelman’s president and owner, has said repeatedly that he has no environmental concerns about site.