BIG PROJECTS BOOMING; BILLIONS REPORTED POURING INTO SOUTHLAND.

Byline: Gregory J. Wilcox Staff Writer

Investors are pouring $13.6 billion into a variety of big projects throughout Southern California, a total not seen since the building boom of the middle to late 1980s, says a report to be released today.

Collectively, these projects will have wide-ranging implications over the next five years, impacting specific industries, shaping growth patterns and guiding land use decisions, said the study by the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp.

Two of the projects cited by the LAEDC have components in the Valley area: The MetroRail Red Line, which will end in North Hollywood; and The Walt Disney Co.'s proposed Creative Campus in Glendale, which has yet to see its first public hearing and is still at least a year away from initial construction.

Still, the amount of money being spent across the five-county Los Angeles region cited by the report demonstrates that cash-flush investors have strong confidence in the region's economic future, said Jack Kyser, chief economist for the nonprofit group.

``People sort of have a faint vision of it,'' he said of the current building boom. ``But by listing them out, it's a pretty powerful message that there is a lot going on in Southern California.''

Here are some of the major projects either under way or already completed:

The $2.4 billion Alameda Corridor, a 20-mile rail and truck link being carved from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to downtown Los Angeles. It will maintain the region's position as a leader for international trade and could increase rail traffic through the San Gabriel Valley and northern Orange County. It is scheduled to be finished by 2002.

The $1 billion expansion of the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, which will create larger container terminals and allow bigger ships to dock.

The $4.5 billion Red Line, which will tie tourist destinations like Universal Studios to downtown Los Angeles. The project is supposed to be finished by the middle of next year.

California State University, Northridge, Ventura County satellite campus at Camarillo, which opened in August and was built at a cost of $150 million. It is the first public, four-year university in Ventura County.

California Adventure, a second amusement park under construction next to Disneyland. The resort plus added retail and hotel elements being added to the complex are expected to cost Burbank-based Disney $1.4 billion.

Ben Bartolotto, director of the Burbank-based Construction Industry Research Board, said big construction projects continue to make gains on an annual basis.

For example, during the first eight months of the year, permits have been pulled for nonresidential projects valued at about $15 billion, with more than half of that in Southern California.

``In a historical sense, it pales somewhat against the peak years of the 1980s,'' Bartolotto said of the private-sector development. ``But when you take into account the public works projects, it could bring it up to possibly record levels.''