Monday, January 13, 2014

Virgin Galactic Makes Another Successful Test Flight in the AV Desert

This past Friday, Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo, which is a six-passenger, two-pilot spacecraft conducted its third rocket-powered test flight on Friday. Several news reports indicated that SpaceShipTwo soared to an altitude 21 640 meters above ground about twice as high as commercial jetliners, which Virgina Galactic also posted on Twitter. The test flight was very short, just a 20 second rocket burn. The operation has been taking place above the Mojave Desert in Kern County, which is part of the Antelope Valley. The California company Mojave makes scaled composites and it is a subsidiary of Northrop Grumman Corp. which also has operations in Palmdale at Plant 42. Spaceship one gets hauled into the edge of space by White Knight Two, and then it is released and enters space and glides back to Edwards Air force Base at Mojave Air and Spaceport. The plan is that the operation will be the beginning of space tourism with an individual or corporate cost of $250k, which may take place later this year. There is competition though from other companies. Like XCOR Aerospace which is building Lynx and Blue Origin. Virgin Galactic indicates they will also use WhiteKnight Two for cargo payloads as well. Antelope Valley is not just a bedroom community for Los Angeles County as technology is present here with Virgin Galactic, State of the Art Solar and Wind Technology and it is home to the Stealth Bomber.

Thursday, January 2, 2014

“The China Connection” The Antelope Valley and Other US Cities recent Growth has been from Chinese Nationals and Chinese Business Investment

Mayors across the US have been wooing the Chinese for Investment in their cities. Just recently the NY Times reported that the Mayor of Toledo Ohio has made a trip a year to China the past four years, and Chinese Companies have paid $10 million in investment to hotels, restaurants and purchased land their. At the same time Mayor Rex Parris has taken numerous trips to China, and has talked about opening an office in Beijing. BYD has taken to Lancaster with their Electric Bus plant located at Sierra Hwy and Ave H. The city is hoping for 1,000 of jobs and millions in future tax revenue on the deal. BYD has had some labor relations issues recently, but the mayor thinks those issues can be fixed easily. Despite the issues, The LA Times reported that Mayor Parris remains upbeat about BYD, and hints at negotiations with another Chinese company that he said is "much bigger in scope" compared with BYD. A deal could be announced within the next year, he said. California is ranked fifth in investment from Chinese firms in the US(LA Times reports), and it looks like Southern California is getting their share of that investment. The small individual Chinese Investor has been investing in Lancaster and Palmdale, Ca. A lot of the property that has changed hands the last year or so has a foreign address according to information we get from LA County tax records. Individual Chinese investors are buying land directly through Brokerages in Antelope Valley and from LA County land owners. Without this foreign investment the land market could be as dry as the land. We at vacantlanddeals.com also have connections to land owners and the individual Chinese Investors, so if you are looking to sell you land then come to us and we can connect you with a cash investor.