Developers Look to the East

(Mar 14, 12:11 AM)

By Jim Skeen Staff Writer

PALMDALE - In looking for a site for a new shopping center, Shane Astani turned his attention to Palmdale's eastside.

Astani selected a 5.1 acres plot just north of Avenue S near 47th Street East for a 63,464-square-foot retail and office center that will have a Chili's restaurant and a Starbucks coffeehouse.

In picking the site, Astani said he saw housing construction and major investments by the city, including widening Avenue S and the opening of Oasis Park.

"West Palmdale is fully developed. I saw an opportunity here," Astani said. "As a developer, you see an area that is strong."

While much of the city's retail news has focused on the area around 10th Street West and Rancho Vista Boulevard, there are signs that Palmdale's eastside, particularly along 47th Street East, is about to boom.

Two major retail centers, several smaller ones, and an expansion of Wal-Mart are among the projects planned for Palmdale east of 30th Street East.

"More retailers are going to be taking advantage of the market," said Mayor Jim Ledford. "The eastside is going to have a tremendous boost."

Astani's center, called Park Plaza, is tentatively set to be under construction this summer. It will take about eight or nine months to build.

"This project is the nicest center to date," Ledford said. "It's going to set a benchmark for future development."

NAI Capital is Astani's partner on that project, but NAI Capital has an even bigger project proposed for Palmdale's eastside. NAI Capital is proposing a 433,000-square-foot shopping center at Palmdale Boulevard and 40th Street East.

"From start to finish, a project like this takes about two years," said Bert Abel, the company's executive vice president in charge of the north Los Angeles County region. "We just started marketing the center."

The concept for the center involves mid-size retailers - stores in the 25,000 to 50,000 square foot range. Linen, sporting goods, pet supplies, and electronics stores are examples of the types that would fit that size range.

The company is in talks with a couple of movie theater companies, Abel said. A theater with six to eight screens or so could be part of the center.

Marketing information on the company's Web site touts "great local demographics" for the project, stating the average family income within a mile of the site is $58,110 and that some 60,000 vehicles pass by daily.

The city's planning department received an application this month for a major retail center at the northwest corner of Avenue R and 47th Street East that would be anchored by a Target store and a Home Depot. The center will have over 500,000 square feet of space spread out in 17 buildings on an approximately 50 acre site.

The center is being proposed by Hopkins Real Estate Group, an Irvine-based company that has worked on dozens of retail centers throughout Southern California, including the SouthBay Pavilion center that includes a Target store.

That project will likely require an environmental impact report. It will be several months before it will come before the city's planning commission for approval.

The Avenue R and 47th Street East intersection is poised to turn into a major retail center. In addition to the Hopkins project, there are three other projects proposed: a center anchored by a Rite Aid drug store on the southeast corner, a Vallarta supermarket on the northeast corner, and a small center with a Tom's hamburger restaurant on the southwest corner.

To the south, the Wal-Mart store at Avenue S will be expanded into a Wal-Mart Supercenter. Construction fencing has been erected as site preparation begins for the expansion.

The expansion will total about 71,000 square feet, according to paperwork filed with the city.

Calls to Wal-Mart for information about the expansion were not returned.

Plans for expansion were built into the original development applications before the city. The store, which opened in January 2002, was built after a controversy over a zoning change on 13 of the 33 acres needed for the project.

Opponents of the Wal-Mart, backed by the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 770, were able to put the City Council's approval of the zone change before voters at the November 2000 election. Palmdale voters overwhelmingly approved the project, 65.2 percent to 34.8 percent.

Since that vote, eastside residents have made regular inquiries about when the store would become a Super Wal-Mart.

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Tuesday, 14 March 2006 04:24


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