Sale of Shuttered GM Plant in Van Nuys Reportedly Imminent

A deal to sell the closed shuttered Van Nuys General Motors plant to a Southland developer is expected to be consummated this month, possibly as early as next week, sources familiar with the negotiations said Monday.

Prospective buyers have proposed a mix of industrial and retail businesses that would probably generate at least 1,000 jobs at a site where 2,600 employees once worked, sources close to the discussions said.

GM executives are said to be in discussion both at the company’s home base in Detroit and in Los Angeles with four potential buyers for the 100-acre site, shut down nearly three years. The property, once listed at $50 million, is now being offered for $30 million.

Although negotiations for the property have gone in fits and starts in the past, sources believe an imminent deal worth $20 million is now likely with one of the four developers, all of which are from Southern California.

Landing a buyer for the property would come as a major boon to the city as it struggles to haul itself out of a recession that has lingered longer than in other parts of the country. City officials have been prodding GM to reach an agreement quickly.

“We would like General Motors to decide fairly quickly among the various suitors for the site. We want something to happen there as soon as possible,” said Rocky Delgadillo, an aide to Mayor Richard Riordan.

Chuck Licari, a GM spokesman, declined to comment on a potential sale but confirmed that “there’s certainly interest in the property.”

Three of the four prospective developers are based in Los Angeles County.

To speed up a sale, Riordan’s office has stepped in with a plan similar to one that allowed Hughes Aircraft to unload its shuttered Canoga Park facility last December.

If GM agrees to the plan, the company would actually sell the property at a loss to the Valley Jobs Recovery Corp., a nonprofit group formed by Riordan last fall to enable such deals. The difference between the sale price and the appraised value of the lot would count as a charitable donation to the nonprofit group, which GM could write off as a tax deduction. The developer would then buy the land from the organization.

The facility was put up for sale several months after the last car rolled off the plant’s assembly line in August, 1992.