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Real estate giants square off tonight over FedEx site
by Brian Simon
Local developer Kilroy Realty Corporation and a group calling itself the Citizens Against Gridlock in El Segundo (CAGES) have lined up against Thomas Properties of Los Angeles and the El Segundo Chamber of Commerce in a fight over the development of the former Rockwell plant.
Thomas Properties wants to develop a $500 million mixed use project, to be called the El Segundo Corporate Campus, on the 46-acre site on Mariposa and Nash streets.
The planning commission will conduct a public hearing on the project, commonly known as the FedEx site, tonight at 6 p.m. in the council chambers.
CAGES maintains that the project would add 35,000 daily car trips in El Segundo, increasing traffic twelve-fold. The project's environmental impact report estimates 24,845 new daily car trips.
In local newspaper advertisements, CAGES has urged the planning commission and city council to delay voting on the proposal until the city updates its nine-year-old traffic plan, and until Thomas Properties identifies how it plans to mitigate the traffic impact.
"The city is trying to push through in six months a project that normally takes 24 months," Kilroy spokesperson Bill Wenger said.
"Thomas Properties is a very good developer and the project fits mixed-use criteria, but it is simply too large and needs to be scaled back," Wenger added.
City officials say the proposal has undergone the same scrutiny as other significant project in the city undergo.
In 1999, Kilroy backed the Committee to Protect El Segundo, which stopped Federal Express from building a 339,000 square-foot truck stop at the same site.
Kilroy is presently expanding and renovating its own corporate offices, adding 15,000 square feet to its 40-year old building. Its location at Sepulveda and Imperial boulevards, is adjacent to the proposed Thomas development.
Wenger said CAGES has a core membership of six to ten people.
"We believe the majority of voters will be concerned once they see the facts," he said.
The site has been vacant since Rockwell closed its plant in the early‘90s, eliminating 5,000 jobs. Since FedEx withdrew its proposal, attempts to develop a movie studio and media center complex at the site have also failed.
Jim Thomas and Tom Ricci of Thomas Properties introduced their plans for a 2.5-million-square-foot development several months ago. The city received a 300-page development agreement, including a site-specific plan and staff report, last Friday.
The El Segundo Corporate Campus calls for a mix of office, research and development, industrial, retail and restaurant uses. Initial plans to build two hotels on the property have been scrapped. The city is negotiating to buy five acres of the site to build six soccer fields. The developer has offered to donate one acre for a new fire station.
The El Segundo Chamber of Commerce estimates the development will generate $21 million in benefits to the city over the next decade and $1.7 million per year thereafter, while also restoring jobs lost when Rockwell closed.
Former chamber president Bill Mason called the Thomas development a good, high-class project for the northeast quadrant.
"You couldn't find a better use for the land," said former chamber president Bill Mason.
"They are a quality company, known for creating quality projects," chamber executive director Kathryn Lourtie said. "Several chamber members tell me they are excited by the project because it would bring services to that side of town that are not currently available." ER