Officials Break Ground at Avion Burbank Project Site Near Airport by Anthony Clark Carpio, Reporter with the Burbank Leader

Overgrown weeds and concrete being dug up by heavy construction equipment on a lot off Hollywood Way and Tulare Avenue may not seem like much, but for developer Overton Moore Properties, it’s a sign of progress.

On Wednesday, the Burbank City Council and officials from Overton Moore broke ground on the 60-acre site, located at 3001 N. Hollywood Way, where a development called Avion Burbank will be built — a feat the developer has been looking forward to for the past four years.

The business park, which was approved by the Burbank City Council in March, is slated to include six two-story creative industrial warehouses for media production or e-commerce companies, nine two-story buildings for creative office space, two one-story buildings for retail and restaurant use and a 150-room hotel.

Timur Tecimer, chief executive of Overton Moore, said at the event that the majority of the project, excluding the hotel, is estimated to be completed in about 16 months, with the first building scheduled to be done by May or June 2020.

He added that Overton Moore will be looking for a hotel developer to design and construct that component of the project, which he estimates should be completed sometime in 2021. “We want to deliver the highest quality project possible in the marketplace,” Tecimer said. “We’re trying to develop an ecosystem here and, hopefully, it will work.”

Avion Burbank is the first major development in Burbank’s Golden State District, which is located next to the Hollywood Burbank Airport. It is also one of the first projects of its kind in the region focused on the media, aerospace and technology sectors.

Although there is nothing but dirt and concrete on the site, so far, Matt Hargrove, vice chairman of real estate firm CBRE, said there has already been a lot of interest from several large companies. “There are a lot of companies looking for property that is high quality, high utility and sustainable, and the only place where you can find that in this area is Avion,” he said.

Burbank Mayor Emily Gabel-Luddy said she sees Avion Burbank as a product that will add value to the community rather than just be another set of buildings in the city. She said she commended Tecimer and Overton Moore for conceiving a project that is conscientious to reduce its greenhouse emissions by installing bicycle lanes along Hollywood Way, incentivizing future tenants to have their employees use public transit to get to and from work and by having amenities on-site to reduce car trips. “They’re building a project that addresses our community and our community needs, but they’re also building a project that will serve the interests of everyone who will work here in the future,” Gabel-Luddy said.