No. 26

Vestar Buys Burbank Tract

Thanks to Vestar Development Co., the city of Burbank can look forward to having part of an aerospace ghost town reincarnated as a retail-office complex called the Burbank Empire Center.

The Phoenix-based developer purchased a 103-acre parcel near Burbank Airport from Lockheed Martin Corp. for an undisclosed price. Sources close to the deal estimated that Vestar paid about $60 million.

Although plans have yet to be finalized, the city’s community development director, Robert Tague, says Vestar will build retail space on 585,000 square feet of the parcel, an office park and light industrial space on more than a 1 million square feet, and will dedicate 14 acres to car dealerships.

Burbank considers the future Empire Center to be a cornerstone of the city’s envisioned Media District North.