Navy property creates interest

The acquisition of the Cabrillo and Savannah Navy Housing area by the Cal State Long Beach University Foundation office last July has attracted the interest of several CSULB academic colleges and private companies to build future projects on the 32-acre former U.S. Navy property.

"The engineering department plans to construct four projects on the site," said Richard Williams, dean of the College of Engineering.

These projects will include a Center for Protection Against Natural Disasters, a Manufacturing Learning Center, a Center for the Commercial Deployment of Transportation Technologies and a business incubator, Williams said.

Funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the State Office of Emergency Services, the Center for Protection Against Natural Disaster's goal is to ensure a rapid and widespread deployment of new technologies that will significantly reduce damages caused by natural disasters such as earthquakes, flooding, fires and hurricanes.

"The center will use modern telecommunications technologies and management techniques to effectively use service centers that are strategically located across the country," Williams said.

On the other hand, the Manufacturing Learning Center will provide manufacturing equipment in order to provide hands-on training to students who are involved in the manufacturing field.

"The type of facility the university will have is pattered on a facility based in Cleveland, Ohio, which is considered the nation's premier learning facility," Williams said.

A Center for the Commercial Deployment of Transportation Technologies, with emphasis on the Alameda Corridor Project and the expansion of the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, is also included in the department's construction agenda.

The center will serve a commercial and military dual function and will use automated transportation systems.

Williams said funding for the transportation center has will cost $6.7 million.

The CSULB board of directors, along with the City of Long Beach, also plans to establish a business incubator aimed at supporting people who are interested in opening their own businesses.

The project will provide accounting and tax advisement as well as essential technical assistance.

"The idea here that, through the business incubator's assistance, the business will have potential to succeed," Williams said.

Robert Behm, dean of University College and Extension Services, said the College of Liberal Arts, CSULB's largest college, also has shown interest in the spacious housing area.

Behm said the Psychology Department plans to install a Center for Usability and Design Application that will monitor and study the function of companies in the area while the geography department will build a section for map- making and navigation activities.

CSULB faculty members who are involved with private companies are also vying for a piece of the Navy property.

"A faculty member working for an East Coast based company that makes a unique educational software plans to locate here," Behm said.

"Also, we have had discussions with a company from the Silicon Valley that expressed interest to come here."

Behm said the various project will generate jobs to both CSULB students and residents living near the housing location.

"The thrust of the projects is economic development, and the by-product of the development is going to be jobs," he said.

However, most of the numerous projects are still on the planning stage as they await funds that will be used to commence renovation and demolition of the housing area's existing buildings next year.

Mo Tidemanis, director of Property Development for the CSULB Foundation, said his office sent an application, asking for a federal grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration.

"They give grants to communities that have suffered job losses due to the closure of military bases," Tidemanis said.

Tidemanis said the coming of sufficient money is most likely imminent as officials from Washington D.C. arrived last month to study the proposal.

"We expect to spend $4 million to demolish old buildings and create new ones for use by private companies as well as university projects," he said.

The funds will also be used to build roadways, traffic signals and utility works as well as covering costs of marketing materials such as brochures and video displays.

Other sources of financial support for the reconstruction of the area will come from the city's Redevelopment Board, private bank financing and a modest lease rate that interested parties will be required to pay once they have established themselves at the military housing area.