By Dale Kasler, Sacramento Bee
GenCorp Inc., the parent of Aerojet Rocketdyne, said Thursday it has sold 703 acres of development land in Folsom for $57 million.
The buyer is WestLand Capital Partners LP of El Dorado Hills, which has been accumulating land in an area south of Highway 50 planned by the city of Folsom for a major expansion. The GenCorp land, known for development purposes as Hillsborough, is slated for 2,000 housing units, plus commercial space, schools, parks and open space.
With its purchase of the GenCorp land, WestLand now controls nearly 80 percent of the land in the larger Folsom Specific Plan Area.
The property makes up a portion of the 6,000 acres of “buffer” land adjacent to the GenCorp facilities in Rancho Cordova. GenCorp, a maker of rocket engines, has been attempting to sell or develop the land for years to supplement its main business.
“Today’s agreement is the culmination of many years of focused efforts and collaboration with a wide spectrum of public and private sector stakeholders,” David Hatch, chief operating officer of GenCorp’s development arm, said Thursday.
The land sale leaves GenCorp with another 5,300 acres of land it is seeking to turn into profit through its development arm, called Easton.
“This agreement is an important step in our continuing development and monetization of the Easton property, which is designed to be one of the finest master-planned communities in the nation,” said Scott Seymour, president and chief executive of GenCorp and Aerojet Rocketdyne.