One overlooks the Rose Bowl Parade route in Pasadena.  The other sits in a two-tier Burbank mall anchored by such retail icons as Macy’s, IKEA and Sears.

One sets its sights on health care professionals.  The other seeks any qualified person who wants to join any of the four major military branches.

Both are new military recruiting stations, and both were nurtured into existence by the Los Angeles District’s Real Estate Directorate.  “We (the Corps) conduct all the leasing activities for all the armed forces,” says District chief Hector Angeles.  “DoD comes out with regular procedures for new offices or upgrades to existing facilities and we carry out the orders for the armed forces.”

The Real Estate Directorate is DoD’s executive agent for the Recruiting Facilities Program, the Homeowners Assistance Program and the Defense National Relocation Program.  That includes appraisal, planning and control, acquisition, management and disposal of land.  Sort of a super realtor for America’s soldiers, sailors, fliers and marines.

Here’s how it works on the ground.  The military branch decides on a location that meets its recruiting mission, based on a formula within the area it has established as its target market.  Real Estate Directorate team members then check out the lay of the land and handle negotiations with property owners and leasers.  They also compile and keep the paperwork.

Like most real estate deals, recruiting stations are all about location, location, location.  Ordinarily, Southern California recruiting stations have sprouted in strip malls because of their high traffic flow and accessibility.  Lately, more are being placed in the sprawling shopping malls that dot the suburban landscape—the better to showcase a station’s profile.  That’s the case with the Burbank facility, whose grand opening was Oct. 16, 2002.  A few are tailored specifically for a niche clientele—in Pasadena the station is in an office building, a venue designed to appeal to doctors, nurses, dentists and other health care professionals who may be interested in signing on with Uncle Sam.  “The image there is a little different from that of the foot soldiers,” explains Angeles.

As in most any landlord-tenant relationship, problems unavoidably arise.  Some landlords object to the increased traffic around their property; others may not like it that a potential recruit may occupy a parking space in a strip mall lot longer than an ordinary retail customer.  “Every landlord has his own idea of the ideal tenant,” says Angeles.

The 13-year Corps veteran, who also served as a Navy corpsman 1978-82, thinks 9/11 has changed what happens at the recruiting stations his directorate handles.  “If anything, there’s more eagerness,” he says.  “From what we hear, people are sometimes beating on their doors.  In the past, they had to entice them to reel them in.”

During the grand opening ceremony Oct. 16, 2002, at the Pasadena site, Lt. Col. John Cook, commander of the 6th Army Medical Dept. Recruiting Detachment, said the office “is connected to a larger strategy that will allow the Southern California Health Care Recruiting Company to better serve the health care market in the Los Angeles area.”  That unit, he continued, “recruits highly qualified and professional doctors, nurses,
veterinarians, dentists, optometry-, medical services- and health science-trained experts for both the full-time Army and the U.S. Army Reserve.”
 
One example: Capt. Elizabeth M. Shin, a pediatric dentist in the L.A. area for more than eight years, became one of the station’s first recruits as an Army Reserve Dental Corps officer.  Capt. Shin will be stationed with 18th Medical Company Dental Services in Stanton, Calif.

Due west of Pasadena, in beautiful downtown Burbank, senior military officers, civilian elected officials and private sector businesspeople attended the grand opening of that recruiting station.  David Laurell, mayor of Burbank, called on Americans “to look to those who wear the uniform with pride.”  Brig. Gen. Bernardo C. Negrete, deputy commanding general of the Army Recruiting Command, Fort Knox., Ky., observed that “the Army recruits quality, not volume, and this new station will have an impact on drawing on that quality.”  He called it “a first-class operation.”

An estimated 450,000 people live within five miles of the mall, whose name will be changed late this year to Burbank Mall from Media City Center.  The name change is part of a $25 million renovation underway at the mall, so the recruiting station seems poised to capitalize on the revitalization project.

Back at L.A. District, Angeles takes an almost paternal pride in the Real Estate Directorate’s involvement in the recruiting process.  “There’s a fervor of patriotism out there,” he says, “that has made this job a little easier—and hopefully that carries over to the future.”