WESTMINSTER : Stereo Store Loses Out to New Project

The Redevelopment Agency voted Tuesday night to condemn a Westminster Boulevard stereo store to create a parking lot for shopping center. The decision marked the agency’s first use of its power of eminent domain to remove a business.

Boo Yun Kim, owner of the Super Sound Car Stereo store at 6699 Westminster Blvd., called the decision “unfair” and said after the vote that he had hired an attorney to fight the decision.

“I’m going to try to do my best to fight this, no matter how long it takes,” said Kim, 25. “This could possibly bankrupt me.”

The agency passed a resolution determining that relocating the store is in the public’s interest. The city will be required to pay for the relocation of Kim’s store and compensate him for the loss of business and goodwill caused by the forced move, said agency attorney Lawrence Howard Thompson. The amount to be paid to Kim is yet to be negotiated.

Agency director Don Anderson said closing the stereo store is a necessary part of the continuing redevelopment of properties along Westminster Boulevard. The store is part of property on which the Redevelopment Agency and the Long Beach-based IDM development firm are constructing a 40-acre shopping center. The center is expected to generate more than $1 million in sales tax revenue for the financially strapped city.

“If the (stereo store) building were to stay, then the development would not go in as planned,” Anderson said. “It’s a small building, but it’s in a key location.”

City and agency officials said they hope the redevelopment project will encourage store owners in the area to improve the appearance of their properties.