GARDEN GROVE : Store Backs Out of Shopping Center

The largest proposed anchor store in a planned 28-acre shopping center in downtown Garden Grove has backed out of plans to locate there, City Council members were told this week.

Christopher Fahey of the Alexander Haagen Co. of Manhattan Beach, a co-developer of the shopping center, told council members that Home Depot is abandoning its Garden Grove plans because of low sales projections. On Monday, the council was sitting as the Agency for Community Development.

Fahey said that because a Home Depot--a warehouse-style home improvement and lumber store--is planned for Westminster, its parent company does not want to continue with plans to build another store at the southwest corner of Euclid Street and Garden Grove Boulevard.

“We’ve had a bit of a setback,” Fahey said. “But I still believe we have a viable project.”

Three other major tenants planning to locate in the center are still interested, according to Fahey and city officials. Lucky Stores plans to build a “superstore” in its current location at the site and Child World, a large children’s toy retailer, also still plans to build at the center.

The third possible tenant, Sears, could increase its space from the planned 60,000 square feet to 100,000 now that Home Depot is out, officials said.

Expanding to 100,000 square feet would make the new Sears larger than Meryvn’s, Garden Grove’s only other major department store.