CAR LOT DEAL HITS OVERDRIVE; GALPIN OWNER TO BUY 8 ACRES IN BURBANK.

Byline: Enrique Rivero Daily News Staff Writer

After months of negotiations, San Fernando Valley car dealership owner Bert Boeckmann has agreed to purchase eight acres of land in Burbank next to the Golden State Freeway to build a new auto super center.

Boeckmann, whose Ford dealership in the Valley is already the nation's most successful, agreed to pay $12.75 million in cash for the former Zero Corp. site in the 700 block of Front Street near Burbank Boulevard.

Los Angeles-based Zero announced in June that Boeckmann purchased the option to the site, which has been vacant since 1991, when the company closed its 250,000-square-foot manufacturing plant and moved the operation to Salt Lake City.

Sale of the property is now in escrow and the deal is expected to close by Jan. 30, according to Zero. Boeckmann already has made a nonrefundable $825,000 payment to be applied toward the purchase price for the land.

Boeckmann said he has invested more than $1 million in the property, a price that includes tests and plan preparations. He said the site is ideal for his proposed complex for two reasons.

``One is that Burbank has been a very friendly city to work with and cooperative with what we want to do,'' Boeckmann said Tuesday. ``Number two and most important is the excellent freeway visibility; outstanding is the word I would use.''

Boeckmann will continue to sell Fords, Lincolns, Mercurys, Saturns and Jaguars at his Galpin Motors in Van Nuys. He also has a Saturn dealership in Santa Clarita.

The planned Burbank center, which Boeckmann estimates will cost about $16 million to build, would have one large showroom selling four nameplates, a service center underneath the showroom, a used-car building and a parking structure.

Boeckmann said he was ``not at liberty'' to say which franchises would be located at the complex ``except to tell you that one will be Ford.''

The facility would take about a year to build and is expected to open in about 18 months, he said.

Overall, it would employ 250 to 300 people and would stock 1,800 new cars and 900 used cars.

Zero Corp. Vice President George Daniels said several other parties were interested in the site, but the company had been able to reach a suitable agreement with Boeckmann.

``He has a fine organization and he's very well-respected in his business, so we reached an agreement with him prior to the time we reached an agreement with anyone else,'' Daniels said Tuesday.

Burbank City Manager Bud Ovrom said the dealership should help the city weather any future recessions like the one that hit the state earlier this decade.

The city has been trying to develop its vacant manufacturing sites and was interested particularly in bringing an auto dealership to the Zero site because of its high visibility from the freeway, he said.

Burbank is ``way underserved'' when it comes to auto sales tax revenues, Ovrom said. Auto sales taxes in the city are only 20 percent of the state average, compared with other categories where the city is 200 percent to 300 percent above average, Ovrom said.

``We're looking for the kinds of businesses that (would net) new dollars for us and automotive is the area where we have potential,'' he said.

The city is offering Boeckmann an incentive package the details of which will be discussed at the Jan. 20 City Council meeting. Ovrom said, however, that it is likely to include a minimum $3 million cash incentive as well as the deed to approximately 2 acres of city-owned property next to the Zero parcel.

The center could generate $1 million to $1.5 million for the city. ``This has the potential of being a very substantial dealership,'' Ovrom said.

CAPTION(S):

Map

Map: (Color) Site of new Galpin dealership - BURBANK