McDonnell, Santa Ana Discuss Huge Complex

McDonnell Douglas Corp. is negotiating with the City of Santa Ana over acquisition of a 67-acre site for consolidating some of its existing Orange County operations, officials said Tuesday.

The site in Santa Ana near the 55 Freeway is the firm’s first choice, said Gary Liebl, president and chief executive officer of McDonnell Douglas Computer Systems Co., a subsidiary of the aerospace giant.

“We’ve come quite some distance in the negotiations and are optimistic about the outcome,” Liebl said.

Late Tuesday, the Santa Ana Redevelopment Commission recommended that the Community Redevelopment Agency grant McDonnell Douglas the exclusive right to negotiate for the property for 90 days.

McDonnell Douglas Computer Systems has 1,500 employees scattered in 13 plants in Irvine, Newport Beach, Costa Mesa and Santa Ana, and has been growing at about 35% per year for the last decade, Liebl said. Some other McDonnell Douglas operations in the county, such as its Astronautics Co. in Huntington Beach, would not be relocated, Liebl said.

“This is the biggest thing to happen in Santa Ana in terms of industrial development in years and years,” said Hank Cunningham, manager of industrial and business development for the city. Cunningham said that if negotiations are successful, the facility could represent a $100-million investment on completion.

The company makes minicomputers and large-scale systems of microcomputers for businesses. Sales in 1984 reached $206 million and are expected to climb to $245 million to $250 million this year, company officials said. The company claims to be the largest computer maker based in Orange County.

McDonnell, city officials and representatives of the Santa Fe Pacific Railroad have been negotiating for months over a redevelopment site adjacent to the Santa Ana Auto Mall--now under construction--south of Edinger Avenue and northwest of the 55 Freeway. The site is about one mile from the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station in Tustin.

Santa Fe Pacific owns 60 acres of the site, and the Redevelopment Agency would supply the remaining seven acres, officials said.

At an afternoon press conference, Santa Ana Mayor Daniel E. Griset said the development would be “the largest corporate office facility in Santa Ana’s history.” If the negotiations succeed, construction could begin in about one year, with the facility opening in three years, he said.

City officials, including City Manager Robert C. Bobb, said McDonnell Douglas favored the Santa Ana site over others in the county because of the bargain value of land, the proximity of freeways and other transportation facilities, the ready availability of a work force and the city’s aggressive Redevelopment Agency, which they said is the most active in Southern California after Los Angeles’.

‘Agreement in Concept’

Jim Lemont, the project coordinator for the Santa Fe Pacific Realty Corp.--an arm of the railroad with the same name--said that although the redevelopment process is just beginning, “We’ve come to an agreement in concept. Now we have to put that understanding into legal form.”

Liebl said the company has been planning to consolidate its Orange County operations for about 18 months, and the Santa Ana site is but one of several pieces of land under consideration.