Tesla Motors is a step closer to locating an electric car plant on 51 acres off Lakewood Boulevard and Columbia Way in Downey, city officials said.
The San Carlos-based carmaker recently filed a key planning application related to locating an assemblyline on the site of a film and TV production facility, Downey Studios, City Councilman Luis Marquez said.
"They're beginning the process," Marquez said. "It's one of the necessary steps in them moving forward with their plant."
Though the application is an important part of the process, Marquez said it would be premature to state that Tesla has committed to building its S sedan in Downey. The automaker is also considering a location in Long Beach -- the former Boeing 717 plant off Lakewood Boulevard.
A Tesla spokesman did not return calls Friday or Monday.
Tesla filed a Planning Department application that subdivides the Downey Studios property into two parcels with one of the uses being the Tesla plant, Downey City Manager Gerald Caton said.
The application seeks to modify what is called the Downey Landing Specific Plan, which governs permitted uses for a parcel where aerospace workers once assembled sections of space shuttles and lunar capsules.
Most of the swath, about 32 acres, is controlled by International Realty Group, the company behind the studios, but the city of Downey owns about 19 acres, giving it a negotiating role in the process. Long Beach's role in the 717 site negotiations is somewhat limited since the land is wholly owned by Boeing.
Approval would likely be required at the city staff level and by the Planning Commission, Caton said.
Much of the Downey deal now hinges on approvals from the U.S. Department of Energy, which is providing low-interest loans to Tesla to expand its lineup of electric vehicles.
The application filed by Tesla in Downey also allows the city to begin readying entitlements it is offering to the carmaker, Marquez said.
Those entitlements, which were approved by the Downey City Council late last year, include free rent, building improvements and other inducements worth an estimated $8.7 million over 15 years.
The package calls for $6.9 million in waived rent on 19 acres owned by the city, $1.8 million in federal grant money for roof repairs to buildings at the site.
In return for the investment, Downey expects direct revenues of $11.76 million from taxes on business licenses, utilities, sales and property.
The company plans to build its Model S sedan, which will cost about $50,000 after anticipated tax incentives, in Downey or Long Beach.
Long Beach City Hall was closed Monday for the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday and officials with knowledge of negotiations involving the 717 property could not be reached.
The Boeing Co. has stated that company policy prohibits it from commenting on ongoing real estate negotiations.
A deal with Tesla, which is looking for a location to build its battery-powered S sedan, would have signifance for either Downey or Long Beach -- an estimated 1,200 jobs and the return automobile manufacturing to Southern California for the first time since General Motors pulled the plug on its Van Nuys plant in 1992.
