Plaza El Segundo is the first phase of a project that would change the face of the northeast corner of Sepulveda and Rosecrans, one of the last, major, and relatively underdeveloped sites in the City of El Segundo. With increasing pressure to serve a growing population comes an accompanying pressure to use existing resources more efficiently. That is why the development of the Honeywell site, and the rest of the land, is so very important.
The entire site occupies approximately 108 acres; Plaza El Segundo occupies over 37 acres of the site. The site is proposed for development in two phases based upon ownership status and readiness for development. The second, larger piece of approximately 71 acres contains multiple ownerships and includes some environmental conditions that will require a longer time frame to resolve before development can occur. The developer has offered a conceptual plan for the future development of the larger site as a shopping center of similar size to Plaza El Segundo.
The land was previously occupied by chemical manufacturing and industrial companies such as Honeywell International, General Chemical, H. Kramer & Company, and Air Products. These past uses have led to existing conditions that warrant clean up of the soil and groundwater before development can occur. The first phase of the project will be built on the Honeywell (formerly Allied Signal) site where a facility, built in the early 1920's, produced sulfuric acid and processed spent sulfuric acid generated at the Standard Oil Company (now ChevronTexaco) petroleum refinery located on the west side of Sepulveda.
The developer of the project, Mar Ventures, Inc., is a South Bay real estate firm specializing in the acquisition, master planning and revitalization of underutilized or obsolete urban land throughout southern California. The company has extensive experience redeveloping obsolete sites into vibrant commercial developments such as a 76-acre site in Carson, formerly occupied by the Golden Eagle Refinery; a 40-acre site in Torrance utilized by Armco Inc. for the forging and casting of a variety of steel products; and, a 16-acre site in Hawthorne formerly used by TRW Inc. for a chip manufacturing facility. Following clean up of sites, Mar Ventures works with state environmental agencies to craft agreements for the protection of future site users.
The first phase of Mediterranean motif lifestyle retail center will contain approximately 425,000 square feet of new restaurants and shops. Traffic mitigation measures such as a new traffic signals, additional right turn in and out lanes, and new streets will be included to ease the burden from the additional traffic that the development will generate. Initial phase tenats include: Whole Foods, Borders, Best Buy, Chick's Sprorting Goods, Cost Plus World Market, Linens-n-Things, Scott Creek Grille and more.
