City talks with major aerospace companies

Several lucrative aerospace businesses may follow SR Technics to Palmdale's Air Force Plant 42, City Manager Bob Toone said Thursday.

SR Technics, a Swiss-based jumbo jet maintenance and repair company, announced its purchase of buildings at Air Force Plant 42's Site 9.

The migration may mark the beginning of a heightened awareness on the part of expanding aerospace firms and other realms of the business world.

The Swiss project sets an upbeat tempo for future projects, advocates of the area said Thursday in the aftermath of a victory news conference called by Gov. Gray Davis.

The confidence expressed by SR Technics and companies that follow will undoubtedly cast a favorable light on the Valley as an aerospace Mecca - an industrial hub for future consideration.

SR Technics plans to hire between 3,000 and 5,000 workers to maintain the SwissAir fleet as well as jets from 13 other airlines.

During a fanfare-filled event Thursday, the company made the announcement official before a crowd of state and local government officials at a press conference in Los Angeles at the Bradley Terminal of Los Angeles International Airport on Thursday morning.

Davis and state Commerce Secretary Lon Hatamiya were on hand for the announcement of the Site 9 sale.

Toone's comments, made to a Valley Press reporter Thursday, were vague and general, but he confirmed successful talks with other industrial firms.

Toone declined to give details of the talks, but acknowledged that deals will be struck with more companies - some looking to move into Plant 42, and others seeking space outside the immediate plant area, Toone said.

"These companies ... they're very sensitive about keeping these things confidential," Toone said. "They want to get the deal done, then they'll talk about it."

The recent announcements, Toone said, mark unusually high activity for industrial interests in the area.

"I think the two cities and unincorporated areas, including Mojave, have positioned themselves well to take them through the process and to help them get started," Toone said, adding, "We have an excellent workforce."

If SR Technics hires as many people as hoped, it will be the largest influx of high-wage jobs to the region since Lockheed Martin Skunk Works moved 3,000 of its employees from Burbank to Palmdale in the early 1990s.

Toone said he believes businesses are beginning to recognize the attraction of inexpensive land and the labor force in the Valley.

The Palmdale official wouldn't say when more announcements would be made, but speculated that something firm could transpire by February.

Larry Grooms, president of the Greater Antelope Valley Economic Alliance, a development advocate who's usually in the know about big industrial transactions, also acknowledged a buzz about development activity, but said he wasn't at liberty to disclose details.

"I can't name any names," Grooms said, quickly adding, "We've been in contact with companies and we continue to be in contact with companies to market the region."

A company like SR Technics, Grooms said, will create new and dynamic opportunities for businesses that provide support for larger companies, such as sub-contractors, machine shops and fabricators.

"There are a lot of companies out there that support or will be vendors or sub-contractors for companies like Swissair and others," Grooms said. "This really opens a door and creates a market for them."

Dave Myers, North County manager for the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation, was equally upbeat, and elusive.

"There has been interest from a number of companies," said Myers, a former Palmdale city councilman and transit expert.

"I can't tell you there's been 12, or there's been 100," Myers said, in answer to a question of how many companies he's talked to. "These companies don't want the whole world to know they're expanding."

Myers said he's been in dozens of conversations the past few months with growth-oriented firms.

"There has been significant interest in the last two months over areas around Plant 42," Myers said.

He added, "We in the Antelope Valley have the only place left in the county that's available for expansion."

Myers credited the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on Oct. 1 by Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan and Palmdale Mayor Jim Ledford with respect to Palmdale airport, saying since that time there's been heightened interest in the Valley region.

The agreement asserts the willingness of Palmdale to work with Los Angeles in developing the regional airport area.

Myers said he also believes the confidence in the local economy expressed by the SR Technics relocation will have a major impact on other projects.

"I think it's only got to help," Myers said, adding that one group he believes will re-think their position toward the Valley is California's High-Speed Rail Authority.

The authority has persistently maintained that having the state's planned high-speed train stop in Palmdale is too costly. Myers and other advocates say the area's population growth alone merits a Palmdale station.

There's also economic benefit to having a stop in the high desert, advocates argue, and Palmdale would be linked to the basin by a trip that would take less than 30 minutes - creating a heightened commuter interest in the train.

With the addition of SR Technics, Myers said, the Valley becomes even more of a regional industrial hub. "This is clear and compelling evidence that it is."

He added, "They're going to have to sit up and take notice. You just can't ignore not only that kind of economic engine, but the population growth that goes along with that."

Myers also said he believes having SR Technics will give Palmdale an improved chance to capture the joint strike fighter.

The U.S. Department of Defense has Boeing and Lockheed engaged in a competition to build the JSF for the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps.

The Department of Defense has billed the competition as a winnertake-all contest valued at $500 billion to $750 billion during the next 30 years, making it the largest military contract in history.

Both companies are building their JSF prototypes at Air Force Plant 42. Boeing's X-32s are taking shape inside the Phantom Works hangar at Site 1, while Lockheed's X-35s are coming together inside a Skunk Works hangar at Plant 10, directly across the runway from the Boeing site.

Gov. Gray Davis, who was on hand at the press conference, expressed confidence in the Valley as a production site, even though Boeing and Lockheed Martin have indicated preferences to build in other states.

"The governor really understood the Antelope Valley," Myers said.

Myers said Davis knows having the JSF in Palmdale would not only strengthen a once-stagnant local economy, but enhance the entire state's economic future.

"Now the world is seeing once again that when companies take a hard look, they're choosing the Antelope Valley," Myers said.

Something that reportedly drew SR Technics to Palmdale is the Antelope Valley Aerospace Alliance, which allows sharing of facilities, equipment and even labor at Air Force Plant 42 and other locations throughout Southern California.

The Alliance includes 14 organizations and companies with interests at Air Force Plant 42 and at Edwards Air Force Base, home of the Dryden Flight Research Center.