Steve Grayson/Reuters A 1996 photograph shows what was then a McDonnell Douglas Corporation aircraft production plant in its aviation heyday.Mercedes-Benz USA has signed a long-term lease on a huge, historic but closed aircraft manufacturing plant in Long Beach, Calif., according to local government officials and agents for the property owner.
John Schumacher, an agent for CBRE, the commercial real estate company, representing the property owner Sares-Regis, said in a statement on Monday that Mercedes agreed to lease about 1.1 million square feet of the manufacturing and administrative facilities adjacent to Long Beach Airport.
Steve Cannon, chief executive of Mercedes-Benz USA, said in an interview that he would make an announcement with more details in the next few weeks.
Mr. Schumacher said the property was near freeway junctions and was only a few miles from the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles. Mercedes-Benz also has a large technical center a few miles away.
Mr. Schumacher said Mercedes was expected to occupy the 52.2-acre property as early as the first quarter of next year.
The site was the headquarters of the Douglas Aircraft Company, which merged with McDonnell Aircraft in 1967. McDonnell Douglas merged with Boeing in 1997. The building is adorned with a “Fly DC Jets” neon sign and logos, which hark back to commercial airliners like the DC-3. A smaller sign declares, “Home of the Boeing 717,” the last commercial jet manufactured there.
“I am delighted Mercedes-Benz selected Long Beach, and has reimagined the former 717 site into a state-of-the-art facility that will complement the Douglas Park development under way across the street,” Mayor Bob Foster of Long Beach said in a statement.
Gerrie Schipske, a Long Beach councilwoman, noted on her blog that as part of an agreement with Boeing and Sares-Regis, the “Fly DC Jets” sign will remain.
This post has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: July 12, 2013
An earlier version of this post misstated the classification of the DC-3. It is an airliner, not a jet.
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