The partnership includes the $2.1 billion Morgan Stanley Real Estate Fund III, Stuart Lichter of the Industrial Realty Group and Larry Kelley of Kelley and Associates. The new leases include such prominent tenants as the California Division of Forestry, which is leasing 68,000 square feet as an aircraft maintenance facility for its fleet of 80 aerial tankers. Another significant tenant is the US Department of the Interior Forestry Service, which is leasing 174,000 square feet, including construction of a new 40,000 square foot training facility.

"In all, the new leases will represent about 2,000 new jobs for McClellan Park," says Kelley, who doubles as president of the ownership group, McClellan Park LLC. "That brings the total of new jobs created after the base closure to over 7,000. Considering that the Air Force left only a few months ago, this represents a tremendous accomplishment for everyone involved."

Many more jobs may be had. The air base-turned-park includes 8 million sf of existing space and room for another eight million sf. Existing space includes 3.7-million sf of manufacturing, warehouse and distribution space, 1.5 million sf of aviation-related space and more than one million sf of office space. "There is a reason McClellan Park has its own zip code," says Kelley.

With its size comes an impressive list of amenities. McClellan Park's perks include a runway capable of handling 747s, a convention hotel, a golf course, a private health club, 640 single-family homes and a park with a running track and softball complex. Other community amenities offered are a first class daycare center, a gas station, an aviation museum and a credit union.

"Over $75 million has already been invested in upgrading the infrastructure and the existing buildings and we will soon be starting new construction, several years ahead of schedule," says Morgan Stanley Real Estate Fund's Eric Kaplan. "We realized we would be able to offer tenants tremendous value, but we did not anticipate the overwhelming success we have achieved to date."

"If the current pace continues," adds Kelley, "we'll be completely occupied much sooner than anyone would have predicted."

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