By TATIANA PROPHET Staff Writer

13,000 jobs?

By TATIANA PROPHET Staff Writer

March 6, 2007 - 6:49AM

James Quigg / Staff Photographer: An aerial photograph looking over the Southern California Logistics Airport and the former George Air Force Base housing. Another light manufacturing development is on its way to the area.

First phase of SCLA to break ground, with completion in 2 1/2 years
VICTORVILLE - Doug Hillbert has lived in the VictorValley since he was a child, and he has never had to commute to work.
For the last 13 years, he has worked for AFG Glass. With about 220 employees, for the last 20 years AFG Glass has been one of the few lightindustrial operations in the VictorValley that allowed residents to support a family close to home.
That is no longer the case, and now some serious money is being pumped into the area to make sure the jobs continue to arrive - 13,000 jobs in the next 2 1 /2 years.
Stirling Enterprises, redeveloper of the former George Air Force Base, announced Monday that it has teamed up with a publicly-traded real estate investment firm to develop the first phase of a logistics rail hub.
According to a news release from Stirling, phase one will result in about 13,000 "direct and ancillary" jobs when it is finished. Groundbreaking is 30 days away on the first million square feet.
Although Stirling did not provide the methodology for arriving at the magic number of 13,000, at least 150 of those jobs appear to be firmed up with a leasing contract.
Back in December, the Daily Press reported that Atlantabased Newell Rubber maid was close to a leasing agreement at the former military base. Stirling has since confirmed that Newell Rubbermaid signed a $15 million, 10-year lease for a new 407,000-square-foot building.
The remaining 600,000 square feet will be divided into three speculative projects: two multi-tenant projects totaling 280,000 square feet and a 296,000-square-foot logistics facility. "Now we've got someone willing to gamble on us because they believe in the vision and the focus that is the former George Air Force Base," said Mayor Terry Caldwell, who has been working to capitalize on Victorville's rail, air and highway capabilities since the base closed in late 1992.
The logistics industry, or the rapid efficient movement of goods around the world, is a big part of how companies like AFG function. At its factory near FoxboroughIndustrial Park, the company gets sand off rail cars and then loads the finished product onto trucks for distribution.
Just a few miles down the road, officials said they hope other companies will decide they want to get away from the congestion of Los Angeles and Long Beach and get on the road to the rest of the country.
With the announcement of exclusive negotiations to build a BNSF multimodal rail hub near major highways, the potential is definitely there. The question is, will the tenants come?
"When you think of all the warehouse space that exists in the Inland Empire, somebody had to be the first," Caldwell said.
"And it was probably from an investor's standpoint a concern, can we build this speculative warehouse - hundreds of thousands of square feet - and get tenants so it'll be worth the investment? And, of course, it panned out for the Inland Empire, Rancho Cucamonga and Ontario," he said.
Stay tuned.