Coda Automotive Eyeing Cleantech Site

Coda Automotive, a Santa Monica-based electric car company, is in advanced talks with the Community Redevelopment Agency to develop a battery assembly factory on a 20-acre plot on the edge of Downtown.

The CRA has been angling to bring an environmentally friendly technology company to its so-called Cleantech Manufacturing Center site since September 2008. AnsaldoBreda, an Italian rail car manufacturer, had been slated to develop the plot south of Downtown before it pulled out of a deal at the last minute last year.

This Thursday, the CRA board is scheduled to consider entering into an exclusive negotiating agreement with Coda. The proposed agreement, which CRA officials would not comment on, would concern plans to develop a plant for the assembly of lithium-ion battery packs used in Coda vehicles.

“We haven’t signed any type of formal agreement yet but it’s definitely an area of interest, as are several other areas of interest in greater Southern California,” Coda spokesman Forrest Beanum said last week, before the CRA meeting had been publicly announced.

The facility would be part of the cars’ final assembly process, with most of the manufacturing taking place in China. Coda partners with various Chinese firms to build their all-electric cars, which are expected to be available for sale to the public later this year, according to the company’s website.

The city purchased the site from the state for $14 million in April 2008. Adjacent to the Los Angeles River, it has a long history of industrial users, which led to heavy contamination. The city spent $2.2 million to clean it up.

AnsaldoBreda, in a deal pushed by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, had been slated to develop a 240,000-square-foot, $70 million light rail manufacturing facility on a 14.3-acre portion of the property. The deal fell apart before last October when the company refused to sign a contract it had negotiated with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. AnsaldoBreda would have produced 100 new rail cars at the plant.