Sale of City Land to Biotech Firm Owner Blocked

Despite the promise of hundreds of jobs for Sylmar, Los Angeles City Councilman Alex Padilla blocked a land deal involving biotech mogul Alfred Mann on Friday, saying a manufacturing plant being considered for the site is different from what the community was promised.

Amid questions about impact on the environment and employment, Padilla diverted Mann’s proposed purchase of surplus city land for further study after learning that Mann had apparently changed his initial plans for the site.

“What’s on the table today is not what we have been talking about for the last six months, and that concerns me,” Padilla said. “As much as I am for economic development and job creation, I will not stand for bait and switch.”

Mann voiced disappointment with the latest delay, saying he changed the project only after the city took about a year to agree to sell eight acres of surplus land owned by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.

“It’s just taken forever to get done,” said Mann of his firm’s offer to buy the surplus property to expand. “Six months ago, we could have been in construction, but it just took a long time to get here.”

At issue is Mann’s plan to buy eight acres in a barren debris basin. He has proposed to buy the land for $3.3 million.

Originally, Mann proposed to use the property for an expansion of Advanced Bionics Corp., which since 1993 has operated on adjacent land making ear implants to help the hearing impaired. That project was expected to increase the number of Advanced Bionics jobs in Sylmar from 350 to 1,400 during the next five years.

Citing the delays and the need for a larger parcel, Mann recently signed a lease and option to buy land in Valencia to at least temporarily accommodate the expansion of Advanced Bionics.

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Mann said he could still decide to eventually build the Advanced Bionics plant in Sylmar, although he now would be more likely to use the property for another of his biotech firms--if the city ever approves the sale.

Mann, one of the wealthiest and most influential businessmen in the San Fernando Valley, has built an empire of biotech firms, including a new plant at Cal State Northridge for MiniMed Inc., a firm that makes insulin pumps.

In 1998, he announced gifts totaling $200 million to fund biomedical research at USC and UCLA.

Local business leaders were concerned about the delays.

“We need something like this to build Sylmar back up,” said Ken Larson, president of the Sylmar Chamber of Commerce. If Sylmar loses Advanced Bionics, “I’d feel that, evidently, the city is not concerned about what happens out here.”

Mann’s decision to move temporarily to Valencia was a disappointment to Bruce Ackerman, president of the Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley.

“I get frustrated with dealing with large bureaucracies in getting through the permit process,” he said.

Padilla said Friday he has concerns about how the latest deal transpired. He noted that two public hearings have already been held on the Advanced Bionics plan, and said similar public discussion is needed if the deal changes.

Mann is now considering instead putting a 220,000-square-foot research and manufacturing plant on the site for another of his growing companies, most likely CTL Immunotherapies, which is working on a trial program for a new drug for patients with advanced melanoma.

CTL now employs 70 people at a facility in Chatsworth. The firm expects to employ 1,000 people by 2008.

Mann said CTL has the possibility of becoming bigger than Advanced Bionics, possibly growing to $1.5 billion in sales by 2008.

Mann said he did not understand the city’s concerns about the change in plans.

“Whether it is CTL or Advanced Bionics shouldn’t make a difference to the city,” he said. “They are both excellent companies.”

But Padilla called the change significant. He questioned whether the number and quality of jobs would change, and the potential for environmental risks.

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Padilla said he wants to make sure the city does not break faith with the homeowners who live in the area and who deserve to know who their neighbor will be.

“No matter how long or short it takes, the credibility of the city and my credibility is on line with the community,” Padilla said. “And so is Al Mann’s for that matter. He would be the corporate neighbor in that area. We need economic development and job creation but it needs to be done right.”

The project has taken as long as it has despite the involvement of the Mayor’s Office of Economic Development, an agency headed by Deputy Mayor Rocky Delgadillo that is supposed to expedite important development projects.

Jeff Waldman of the economic development office said the delay was caused in part because the DWP had other plans for the 68.8-acre debris basin.

The DWP needs to build four water tanks to comply with new clean-water laws, and the decision to give up eight acres required analysis to determine how to engineer the water tanks on the remaining 60 acres.

“I know they were trying to be thorough, and they were thorough,” Waldman said. “In the end they made the right decision.”