Inglewood Trumpets K mart Project : Renewal: Some property owners to be displaced threaten legal action to get more money.

Inglewood officials have been trying for years to redevelop the area of the city west of the San Diego Freeway. The corner of Hillcrest and La Cienega boulevards has been considered an especially prime spot.

This week, years after ambitious proposals for a hotel and a research and development park fell through, the city will proceed with a plan for an $8.5-million K mart on the site.

But as city planners celebrate the expected economic boost, a group of property owners is concerned that they are not being sufficiently reimbursed in the city’s eminent domain proceedings. They have retained an attorney to challenge the project in court.

The city, which has been working to boost commercial development, is touting the proposed new store as proof that other areas of Inglewood can attract major retailers, too. Already, Inglewood redevelopment efforts have drawn the Home Club and Price Club to an area next to the Hollywood Park race track.

The proposed new store is “a symbol of the growing interest in doing business in Inglewood,” said Jesse Lewis, the city’s redevelopment director. “The retail community feels there is a market to do business here.”

Lewis said the proposed K mart would have a “ripple effect” through the community by providing shopping opportunities, creating more than 150 new jobs and helping to lure other retailers to Inglewood.

City officials have been negotiating with K mart for more than a year to draw the retailer to the city. The Redevelopment Agency began eminent domain proceedings in December, with property owners receiving notices in early January. Before the deal becomes final, though, public hearings must be held on the plan, and the full City Council must approve it.

The first hearing on the proposed store is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Tuesday in the council chambers. City officials say that the store could open as early as next March.

The 102,000-square-foot retail store with an 8,500-square-foot garden shop will take up a full city block, much of which is now covered with small homes and apartment complexes.

Because the area is under the flight path to Los Angeles International Airport, the city is using federal airport noise reduction money to redevelop the area from residential use to light industrial and commercial use, Lewis said.

By law, the Redevelopment Agency is required to offer fair market value for the land and buildings. The eight property owners are charging that the city is not compensating them enough as it proceeds with its plans to bulldoze their properties. The agency stands by its offers.

“We’re fighting for just compensation--what we think the property is worth,” said Bill Eisen, a Manhattan Beach resident who was offered $325,000 for the three small homes he owns on the proposed site.

“I don’t have a tremendous attachment to the property,” Eisen said. “I bought it to tear down the houses and put up an apartment complex. I want to get enough compensation to buy something comparable. For $325,000 you can barely buy a roll of toilet paper these days.” Eisen, who is acting as spokesman for the group of property owners, says his property is worth at least $500,000.

Most of those in the group of property owners live elsewhere. The owner of a 49-unit apartment complex on the site is fighting the city’s efforts independently.

The reaction of some of the displaced tenants, who are receiving relocation money from the redevelopment agency, was less critical of the city. Several of them said they are anxious to move on.

“You get attached to a place,” said Margaret Moore, who has rented a small home on La Cienega Boulevard for more than 15 years. “When you live in a place this long, it’s hard to go. But it’s time.”

Moore said the notice she received last month telling her that she had 90 days to move did not surprise her. Ever since she moved in, she has heard talk that one redevelopment project or another would force her out.

“I didn’t even unpack a lot of my stuff because I never knew how long I would be here,” said Moore, who plans to move to Arizona next month.