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Friday, Mar 29, 2024

Lancaster Boulevard Project Starts Construction

Work is underway on a new office and retail building in downtown Lancaster on the site of a former Woolworth’s store. InSite Development, the firm behind much of the revitalization of the central business district in Lancaster, is building the structure on an empty lot at Lancaster Boulevard and Date Avenue. When completed in early 2013, the 8,000-square-foot, two-story building will have retail on the ground floor and offices on the second. The law firm Kestler Derryberry will relocate from its current location at 723 West Lancaster Blvd. to occupy the second floor of the new building. Moving the law firm will free up space for more retail, drawing more people downtown, said Corey Heimlich, a director with the Woodland Hills-based development company. “The second we put up a ‘for lease’ sign we are not going to have a problem finding tenants,” Heimlich said. InSite owns 150,000 square feet of retail space in downtown and the space is fully occupied. The new office and retail building is the company’s first build-to-suit project in the downtown area. The partners at Kestler Derryberry will help to design the office space to fit their needs. With floor to ceiling windows and a balcony overlooking the boulevard, the office will have a modern feel to it, said Steve Derryberry, a partner in the firm. “It will make the office efficient,” Derryberry said. “Right now, it is a hodgepodge where we are separated by walls put in by a previous tenant.” The ground floor can accommodate two or three retail shops. One of the spaces will be built so that a restaurant will be able to locate there, said Brian Ludicke, planning director for the City of Lancaster. In a nod to the property’s history, the tiles along the sidewalk bearing the name of Woolworth’s — the five-and-dime shop that once stood there — will be preserved. The corner lot has been empty for about a decade. Business development Since 2008, downtown Lancaster has undergone a renaissance of sorts due to the investment of Scott Ehrlich, a partner for InSite. In four years, the firm has built artists’ lofts, a museum, and a movie theater, and has transformed an empty building into the BeX restaurant and bowling alley, as well as made façade improvements on many buildings. Ehrlich also is investing in kiosks along the boulevard for small startup businesses. One kiosk already has opened and two others are under construction. “Scott is a veritable powerhouse,” said Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris, in a prepared statement. “He definitely makes things happen.” Derryberry and Ehrlich met about three years ago, following Ehrlich’s purchase of the building where the law firm is currently located. Right away, Derryberry said, Ehrlich was adamant about getting the firm into another location so that the space could be used for retail. Derryberry recalls that when he began practicing in 2006, downtown Lancaster was not a desirable place to be. He said did not feel safe leaving the office after dark and would encounter vagrants when opening the firm each morning. Now, Derryberry said, there is no other place in the city he would want to be located. “I can walk to get coffee, to take a client to lunch, or meet a client for dinner,” Derryberry said. “There is opportunity here that is beneficial for an office.” The downtown is attractive to entrepreneurs just starting out as well as existing businesses that may consider relocating from elsewhere in the city or Antelope Valley, Ludicke said. Among the new businesses on the boulevard are Kinetic Brewing Co., Pour d’Vino, and Eat Up Catering. “More businesses mean more options and more revenue tax-wise and more employment,” Ludicke said. “All of those are positive from our standpoint.” For the new building, the city will make improvements with lighting and landscaping to an existing parking lot to the rear, Ludicke said. In 2010, the city invested $10.5 million for streetscape improvements on the boulevard to add parking, landscaping, new paver sidewalks, curbs and gutters, decorative street lights, an audio/sound system, and street furniture.

Mark Madler
Mark Madler
Mark R. Madler covers aviation & aerospace, manufacturing, technology, automotive & transportation, media & entertainment and the Antelope Valley. He joined the company in February 2006. Madler previously worked as a reporter for the Burbank Leader. Before that, he was a reporter for the City News Bureau of Chicago and several daily newspapers in the suburban Chicago area. He has a bachelor’s of science degree in journalism from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

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