The Douglas Park redevelopment project is slated to arrive two years ahead of schedule. The 283-acre reimagined former aviation field will house 4.1 million square feet of industrial, office, retail and hospitality facilities, and Virgin Orbit, Shimadzu Precision Instruments, Universal Technical Institute and Mercedes-Benz have already signed on as tenants. The project began in 2011 and will deliver sometime this year. We sat down for an exclusive interview with John Keisler, Director of Economic Development for the City of Long Beach, to talk about the development project.
GlobeSt.com: How is the execution of the Douglas Park master redevelopment tracking with the original overall vision in terms of mix of tenants and uses?
John Keisler: Douglas Park has been an incredible learning experience as well as a tremendous economic development success story for the City. Although we envisioned a robust mix of advanced aerospace manufacturing tenants, we could have never anticipated the robust response from the neighborhood-serving storefront medical and retail sectors that now call Douglas Park home.
GlobeSt.com: What elements of the plan honor its aviation history?
Keisler: Of course, historic elements such as the famous DC Jets sign have been preserved in the project to pay honor to our past. In addition to building the aerospace factories of the future at Virgin Orbit, the creative new elements such as “The Landing” (a 1.25 acre central plaza) and “The Hanger” (a 16,800 square foot building showcasing a curated collection of local art, food, design, and fashion) at the Long Beach Exchange, guarantee an aviation experience to customers.
GlobeSt.com: What's the reason for being two years ahead of schedule?
Keisler: Speed comes from great preparation and great partnerships. The City leaders prepared the environment for development through specific planning efforts that streamlined approval standards and provided certainty for developers. The great partners like SARES-REGIS brought confidence to potential tenants like Virgin Orbit and developers like Burnham USA Equities to invest the resources to get projects built.
GlobeSt.com: How has the community responded to the development?
Keisler: Of course the community has directly benefited from the great new jobs and the great new employees choosing Long Beach as home. Even more so, the community has recaptured its spirit as the innovative place that builds and moves stuff. From ships to planes during World War II, Long Beach is now building rockets that will shape the future of the world and commercial space. The community has recaptured its mojo as the creative, industrious place to be in Southern California.
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Kelsi Maree Borland
