Rockwell Gets OK to Sell to Developer

A shopping center planned for a piece of land once used for aerospace work inched toward approval Wednesday, as the City Council cleared the way for Rockwell International Corp. to sell some of its land to a developer.

The developer, J.H. Snyder Co., still has to gain council approval for the project’s site plans. But company officials said Thursday that they expect construction to be underway on the northeast corner of Victory Boulevard and Canoga Avenue by early next year.

Officials in Councilwoman Laura Chick’s office said that the company has much to do before construction can begin--including cleaning the land to rid it of possible contaminants--but that community support for the project has been high and it is expected to receive city approval easily.

“There’s not a lot of controversy on this,” said Ken Bernstein, Chick’s planning deputy. “[Snyder] has good support for the project. He got unanimous support from both neighborhood advisory committees. I think the bigger problem is trying to work out the deal between all the parties.”

Bernstein said that the parcel split will allow Boeing North America to control the Rocketdyne division on the northern portion of the 15-acre lot, while Rockwell is free to sell the southern portion to Snyder.

Although the $27-million shopping center is still winding its way through the system, it is already fully leased, said Jerry Snyder, a development company senior partner.

He declined to reveal the complete list of tenants because his company is still negotiating leases, but said it will include a Borders bookstore, a Babies R Us store, a linen store and an electronics store.

Snyder said that although there are an abundance of shopping centers in that area with similar stores, there is room for one more.

“It’s a great corner. There are a lot of people with a lot of disposable income there,” he said. “A lot of our tenants are moving from existing places nearby because they have small stores and are unhappy with their parking situation. So it’s not like adding stores, just a repositioning.”