COMPANIES TEAM TO BUY BERMITE SITE $63.8 MILLION DEAL COULD BOOST CLEANUP.

Byline: JUDY O'ROURKE Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA -- SunCal Cos. and Cherokee Investments will pay $63.8 million for the contaminated Whittaker-Bermite property in the heart of the city, under the terms of a deal approved Thursday by a bankruptcy court.

SunCal, which built the Tesoro del Valle and North Lake developments in the Santa Clarita Valley, and North Carolina-based Cherokee, which specializes in cleaning up polluted properties, will work with Whittaker Corp., former owner of the one-time defense plant.

The property, 996 acres south of Soledad Canyon Road in Saugus, has been eyed for development for more than a decade, but first must be cleaned up. Whittaker will work with the buyers to hammer out terms for a cleanup agreement that will build upon work done so far.

``The city is pleased with the progress made recently, and expects that the Cherokee-SunCal partnership will help to further expedite the cleanup of the property,'' said Lisa Hardy, Santa Clarita's planning manager who attended the bankruptcy hearing in Phoenix.

Earlier in the bankruptcy process, SunCal and Cherokee had submitted separate bids to the court. At a June 2 hearing the two submitted a joint bid in which they would combine efforts and form a remediation and development team.

Cherokee will oversee the cleanup and Suncal will develop the property.

New York-based SG Enterprises, which had bid $74 million, dropped out of the process in June.

Before the developers can build on the property it must be cleaned of hazards, including chemicals. Bermite's manufacture and testing of rockets and explosives over 50 years left a legacy of heavy metals and other contaminants in the soil and perchlorate in the groundwater. In large doses, perchlorate has been linked to thyroid problems.

The developers and the city will develop a reimbursement plan so future uses for the property can be mapped out.

The debtors, bidders and creditors met for five hours behind closed doors before presenting the court with a revised bid agreeable to all parties, Hardy said.

Creditors in the bankruptcy case -- the insurance companies, Whittaker Corp. and Porta Bella Lenders LLC -- supported the bid and withdrew their prior objection to it. They will work on the sale order and solidify the bid and agreement reached Thursday, Hardy said.

In 1995 the city approved a development plan -- Porta Bella -- in which Whittaker and at the time RFI would have built a business park and nearly 3,000 homes.

RFI bought the property in 1999 for $15 million, but spent more than $25 million cleaning it up before relisting it for sale in 2002. RFI filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2004.

judy.orourke(at)dailynews.com

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