Lockheed Site Selected for Proposed Sports Arena : Burbank: Officials and builders hope to provide a new $100-million home for the L.A. Clippers at Victory Place and Empire Avenue.

Burbank officials and developers have selected a site for a proposed $100-million sports arena that they hope the Los Angeles Clippers basketball team will make its new home.

The 89-acre site, owned by Lockheed Corp., was chosen over two other Burbank properties for the proposed 18,000- to 22,000-seat arena.

Although other uses of the site--either in conjunction with the arena or separate--include a proposed shopping center anchored by a Wal-Mart store or the expansion of 20th Century Fox Studios, city officials have made clear they would prefer to attract the Clippers.

“It would bring us national prominence and prestige,” Mayor Bob Bowne said Friday.

“Thousands of people who might not otherwise come to the area would be attracted . . . and that would indirectly benefit hotels and restaurants.”

No concrete proposals have been submitted to Burbank for any of the proposals.

A partnership that owns the rights to build the arena has said it would do so only if the Clippers or another professional sports team agreed to move into it.

Clippers management has said for more than a year that the team will move from its current home, the 15,800-seat Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena in Exposition Park, unless the facility is renovated.

For a new home, the team is considering Burbank and two sites in downtown Los Angeles.

Harley Frankel, the team’s executive vice president, said Friday that of the four options, renovating the 33-year-old Sports Arena and moving to the Burbank site were “furthest along in the discussion stages.”

The team’s owners will make a decision by the end of the year, he said.

One advantage to staying at the Sports Arena is that it could probably be renovated faster than an arena could be built in Burbank, Frankel said.

He did not, however, rule out the Burbank site.

The Burbank property, at Victory Place and Empire Avenue, is contaminated by chemicals used by Lockheed over the years in manufacturing aircraft, and the company’s cleanup is expected to take at least a year.

The pollutants include chemical solvents, such as trichloroethylene (TCE) and perchloroethylene (PCE), used to degrease metal parts.

City officials, who held a news conference Friday to publicize their choice, minimized problems with the site, touting its proximity to the Golden State Freeway instead.

“The development of this site is extremely important to the city and will probably be a priority,” Burbank City Manager Bud Ovrom said.

If the arena is built, a new freeway interchange would be constructed at Empire Avenue to accommodate traffic from the sports facility and other new development in the area, including a bigger terminal at the Burbank Airport, city officials said.

The cost of the freeway improvements would be shared by the city and developers who build in the area.

The Burbank City Council recently granted exclusive rights for three years to build the arena to developer Lew Wolff, who formed a partnership with Warner Bros.

After a yearlong study, the partners last month announced the three potential sites for the arena--from which the final selection was made before Friday’s announcement.

Ovrom said a proposed site on Hollywood Way next to the airport was rejected because of traffic congestion.

The remaining site, at Burbank Boulevard and the Golden State Freeway, was turned down because it is too small and narrow, he said.

The Lockheed site is big enough for both the arena and either the Wal-Mart shopping center or the Fox studio, Ovrom said.

Although Wal-Mart’s exclusive negotiating rights with the city lapsed in July, talks are continuing, a company spokeswoman said.

Fox spokesman David Handelman said it is unlikely the studio will build in Burbank unless the city of Los Angeles rejects a proposal to expand its existing facilities in Century City.