Nine-acre park could offer light-industrial units for small businesses like interior design firms and furniture warehousers
The Signal Hill Planning Commission is scheduled to hold a public hearing on Sept. 21 to discuss a proposed light-industrial park at 2020 Walnut Ave. between Hill and 20th streets and Gundry and Gaviota avenues.
Plans for a nine-acre industrial park have taken shape over the past four years since Xebec Realty, an industrial development firm with a local office in Seal Beach, and Denver-based developers RE Solutions bought the former oil-refinery site in October 2017.
Xebec said in a March 2018 news statement that it wants to build relatively smaller light-industrial units ranging from 7,000 to 26,000 square feet in nine buildings on the site.
“Most developments have focused on larger buildings […], resulting in a somewhat overlooked segment of the market,” Xebec CEO Randy Kendrick said. “The project will focus on demand for functional facilities and users seeking small, nimble spaces.”
According to Xebec, package-delivery companies and product warehousers, driven by e-commerce, urbanization and population growth in the region, have increased demand for “infill”—new buildings on older lots in developed areas.
During the Planning Commission’s first public hearing in January 2018 to review the proposed plans, Xebec development manager Steve Christie said his company would seek small-business tenants on a rent-to-own basis, such as interior design firms and furniture warehousers. The units could also be used in “nonconforming” ways as dance studios, churches and boat or motorcycle storage, he said.
The City would not allow businesses needing large truck shipments or cold storage, according to its June 2021 environmental report. Building space will total about 151,000 square feet.
Xebec and RE Solutions will design each of the nine planned one-story buildings to meet the needs of the occupants who lease or own the spaces, according to the 174-page report. Construction will take about 18 months with the site projected to be fully occupied by spring or summer 2023.
The site, spanning Walnut Avenue on three adjoining lots, was formerly occupied by ChemOil Corporation, whose refinery ceased operating in 1994 and was demolished by 1998. Though the soil underwent a two-year cleanup, the City conducted an environmental review for the current project, as per the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
The “negative declaration” CEQA report circulated for public review in June found that any environmental impacts are being mitigated by the developers, including an extraction system to remove soil-vapor gas resulting from contamination by the former refinery.
“The proposed development plan also includes a variety of site improvements, such as surface-level parking for 262 vehicles, 77,527 square feet of landscaping and miscellaneous underground water, sewer, storm drainage, electricity and communications lines,” the report states.
