Countrywide Negotiating for Lockheed Property

Countrywide Credit Industries Inc. in Pasadena, the nation’s largest residential mortgage lender, is negotiating to buy the former Lockheed corporate headquarters building in Calabasas, a company spokeswoman confirmed Monday.

“There are some issues that need to be worked out” before a final deal can be consummated, said Suzanne Thompson, the Countrywide spokeswoman. She did not elaborate.

Thompson said the company is in need of more office space because it is growing quickly. Countrywide has 1,200 employees at its Pasadena headquarters facility, where the company entered a new, 10-year lease in December 1994.

Countrywide also has 1,400 workers at its loan servicing offices in Simi Valley. Thompson said the company intends to keep the Pasadena and Simi offices and that it hasn’t decided yet which departments would be moved once it secured additional space.

In its fiscal year ended Feb. 28, Countrywide earned $195.7 million, more than double its $88.4 million profit of the previous fiscal year. Its annual revenue grew 43%, to $860.7 million from $602.7 million.

The Lockheed building in Calabasas was built by the aerospace giant in 1986, when it moved its corporate headquarters there from Burbank. Situated on 20 acres, the building stands four stories and has 353,700 square feet.

Lockheed has been slowly emptying the facility since its $10-billion merger with Martin Marietta was completed in March 1995.

Most of the 250 Lockheed employees who worked there were either laid off or relocated to Lockheed Martin’s headquarters in Bethesda, Md.

The Calabasas property at one time had an assessed value of $65 million, but real estate specialists say that a realistic price in today’s market would probably be half that amount, or less.

When the facility was in full use, Lockheed contributed about $50,000 to $60,000 of the city’s $7 million in annual tax revenues, Calabasas City Manager Charles Cate estimated.

Lockheed has filed an application to amend the conditional-use permit for the property. Cate said the application is a preliminary step required for Countrywide to have more than the 385 employees and 386 parking spaces currently allowed at the site.

“We’re still working with them on refining the numbers as to what kind of increases they want,” he said.

Cate added that the city would also require Countrywide to submit traffic studies and plans showing how it would mitigate any increase in congestion in the area.