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The opening of the new Chipotle at the Signal Hill Gateway Center received news coverage from two local papers; the Signal Tribune and Long Beach Gazettes.
Read the articles below, or click on the links for the digital versions.
Photo Courtesy of Signal Tribune: Signal Hill Mayor Ed Wilson cuts the ribbon with Emre Comertoglu, manager of the new Chipotle restaurant on Wednesday Dec. 10, 2014 at the Signal Hill Gateway Center. Also pictured are: Police Chief Michael Langston (far left), Signal Hill Chamber of Commerce President Terry Rogers (second from left), Signal Hill Petroleum representatives, councilmembers and city staff.
Signal Tribune
Chipotle restaurant opens in Signal Hill as ‘final puzzle piece’ to shopping center
POSTED ON DECEMBER 12, 2014; Sean Belk (Staff Writer)
City officials, business owners and community members gathered on Wednesday, Dec. 10 to celebrate the opening of Chipotle restaurant, which completes the Signal Hill Gateway Center off of Spring Street between California and Atlantic avenues.
The opening comes after a Starbucks and a Sprint retail store opened their doors last month while two Bank Of America ATMs are expected to be operational by the end of December, said Ashley Schaffer, real estate manager for Signal Hill Petroleum, developer and property owner of the shopping center
“It was the final puzzle piece,” she said, adding that development at the shopping center first began in 2007. “We’re very happy it’s finally done.”
The businesses are the latest addition to the shopping center, which is also home to In-N-Out, Petco, Ross Dress for Less and Home Depot.
“We’re excited about Chipotle being here,” said Signal Hill Mayor Ed Wilson in an interview with the Signal Tribune. “New businesses mean new jobs, but also this is an establishment that’s really, really liked by the millennials, the younger people. I know it’s one of my daughter’s favorite restaurants to go to. We’re just excited for them to be here, and we’re going to look forward to a long-term, working relationship with them.”
Wilson noted that the new restaurant includes a patio that allows diners to eat while enjoying the view from Signal Hill.
During the invitation-only event that included a ribbing-cutting ceremony, community members, local business owners and city officials were treated to free food from Chipotle.
“We’re just really excited to get a Class-A tenant and a great new amenity for the city here at the Signal Hill Gateway shopping center,” said David Slater, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Signal Hill Petroleum, developer and property owner of the center. “The completion of this pad with Starbucks, Sprint and Chipotle builds out Signal Hill Gateway Center with a great addition and some great tenants, but it wouldn’t have happened without the support of the city and a great amount of support from city staff.”
Long Beach Gazettes
BUSINESS BEAT: New Chipotle In Town; Capture Long Beach Video Contest; Hotel Maya Additions
Posted: Tuesday, December 16, 2014 9:13 pm; Ashleigh Ruhl (Editor)
Fresh Chipotle
A new Chipotle Mexican Grill opened last week at the Signal Hill Gateway Center on Spring Street near Atlantic Avenue.
Members of Signal Hill Petroleum, which owns the majority of the shopping center, as well as city leaders, hosted a ribbon cutting on Wednesday (Dec. 10). Signal Hill Mayor Ed Wilson and Signal Hill Chamber of Commerce President Terry Rogers were among those in attendance.
“We’re thrilled to welcome Chipotle to the Gateway Center,” David Slater, executive vice president and COO of Signal Hill Petroleum, said in a release. “We welcome them to the business community and wish them much success going forward.”
The 1,800-square-foot Chipotle is located at 959 E. Spring St., and is open daily from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. The restaurant, which is fast-casual, is part of a chain that got its start in 1993 and has grown to include 1,500 locations. Menu items include burritos, burrito bowls, tacos and salads.
Chipotle’s opening finished work that started in 2006 when the Signal Hill Gateway Center first broke ground. Signal Hill Petroleum to develop the 23.5-acre Gateway Center, which also includes Home Depot, an Applebee’s, Dollar Tree, Home Depot, Jack in the Box, In-N-Out, Petco, Ross, Sprint and Starbucks drive-thru. A Chick-fil-A restaurant also is planned to open in the shopping center soon.
The Long Beach Grunion Gazette summarized the thirty year history of Signal Hill Petroleum, with its grassroots beginning to its current leading stance in technology and community outreach.
The following is an excerpt from the August 7, 2014 Grunion Gazette Newspaper.
Photo courtesy of Long Beach Grunion Gazette: OIL & GAS ENTREPRENEURS. Craig Barto, Debra Montalvo Russell and David Slater stand by the Signal Hill Petroleum office
Signal Hill Petroleum Pumps Into 30th Year
Grunion Gazette, August 7, 2014
By Ashleigh Ruhl Editor
When father and son real estate developers Jerry Barto and Craig Barto purchased a piece of land in Costa Mesa in 1979, their intention was to build condos there.
Instead, they wound up in the oil and gas business.
“We just sort of fell into it,” Craig Barto said, adding that he and his father hired the best people they could to teach them all about oil and gas. “Oil prices spiked upwards, so instead of building condos, we ended up drilling 12 wells – years later, we did build homes there too.”
Soon after that Costa Mesa purchase, when Shell’s lands and leases in Signal Hill were put up for sale in 1982, the father and son owners of Barto Oil Company saw an opportunity that others didn’t. They made the purchase, for an undisclosed amount, and formed Signal Hill Petroleum in 1984; the company is celebrating its 30th anniversary.
“It was a big deal, an icon (Shell) coming up for sale,” Craig Barto explained. “At that time, the 100 acres was mostly not developed, and we looked at it as an oil field as well as a real estate opportunity; whereas, others didn’t look at the property, didn’t look at this urban area as a positive thing, they saw it as a negative.”
They decided to find a way to integrate their background in real estate development into the business model, even though no one had done such a thing before. They wanted their drilling operations – which now include 400 wells and the 90-year-old Discovery Well – to be good, close neighbors with Long Beach and Signal Hill residents and business.
“Shell was focused on offshore projects, and they left this tremendous asset,” Craig Barto said. “Today, we’re producing one million barrels a year and employ 165 people… This spot, Signal Hill, has th most oil per acre, or square foot, than anywhere in the world.”
He added; “We are proud to be a local producer of oil, providing jobs in our communities and strengthening the American economy as a whole. It’s very important for our company in both the long and short term to keep growing, to be a better company, and to be the best neighbor we can be. We are proud to be helping America be more energy independent.”
Dave Slater, who serves as the executive vice president and COO for the privately-owned company, shared similar sentiments. He explained that Signal Hill Petroleum owns 95% of the wells in the Long Beach/Signal Hill Oilfield, which is one of 28 super fields in the continental United States.
“It’s always been an urban field with no fence around it,” Slater said. “That’s not always easy, but we’ve learned by necessity how our workplace can be someone else’s backyard or next door neighbor.”
What sets Signal Hill Petroleum apart from other energy companies, he said, is the company’s commitment to the community and to pioneering new technology – such as the first three-dimensional imaging system that wirelessly measure underground oil levels and seismic activity – as well as hiring innovative employees who find ways to effectively operate in close proximity to homes and businesses in a way that is unprecedented in the industry.
Other energy companies have tried to copy what Signal Hill Petroleum has done, but Slater said none have had the same success. He emphasizes that Signal Hill Petroleum’s best assets are the people who work there, not the minerals in the ground.
One such employee is Debra Montalvo Russell, the director of business development and community relations. She is charged with helping Signal Hill Petroleum give back. For the philanthropic work done by the company, Signal Hill Petroleum was named the 2013 winner of the Oil & Gas Award in Corporate Social Responsibility, among other honors.
Montalvo Russell said Signal Hill Petroleum helps causes that touch the hearts of the employees there. That ranges from preserving the Los Cerritos Wetlands to sponsoring summer concert and movie series to working with local police officers to deliver holiday gifts to the needy, among other causes. The company also supports the geoscience laboratory at CSULB.
“We like to invest in our backyard, in cases that we can feel good about,” Slater said, noting a large bookshelf full of thank you notes and thank you plaques displayed at the entrance to the company’s Signal Hill offices.
“Working so close to homes and businesses, it’s important that we are neighbor-friendly and involved in the community, which is our workplace,” Barto said. “Through our employees – from top, down – we stress the importance for all of us to be good neighbors.”
For more details about Signal Hill Petroleum, including a timeline of the company’s past 30 years, visit www.shpi.net.
Ashleigh Ruhl can be reached at aruhl@gazettes.com