Store Threatens to Delay Opening Unless Bank Moves : Redevelopment: Lucky wants temporary branch of B of A to stop operating in parking lot. The market is seen as the linchpin in efforts to bolster shopping plaza.

Lucky Stores Inc. is threatening to delay the long-awaited opening of a new supermarket in the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza and to file suit against the Community Redevelopment Agency if a temporary bank building is not removed from the store’s parking lot.

Christopher Huss, Lucky’s vice president of real estate, said the construction of the 43,000-square-foot supermarket will be completed by December, but the store will not open as long as the temporary branch of Bank of America operates in the parking lot.

And if the opening is delayed, Huss said, the supermarket chain will file lawsuits against the redevelopment agency, the bank and the Alexander Haagen Co., which developed the mall in conjunction with the redevelopment agency.

“We are going to file a suit against everybody,” he said. “We are at the mercy of the bank. We won’t be able to open because they are right in the middle of the parking lot.”

Huss said a lawsuit would seek to recover interest on the $5 million the supermarket chain has invested in the new market, which will contain such specialty departments as a bakery, a pharmacy and a fresh seafood counter.

The disagreement has placed a damper on what was seen as a major victory for the predominantly black community, whose residents had long complained of having to travel outside the area to find a choice of markets.

Many people hope the supermarket will strengthen the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza, which has been struggling to attract national retail stores and customers.

The controversy stems from an ongoing dispute between Bank of America and the redevelopment agency. The agency filed suit in Los Angeles Superior Court three years ago to try to force the bank to vacate a 27-year-old branch at 39th Street and Crenshaw Boulevard to make room for the supermarket.

The bank eventually agreed to a court-ordered settlement that allowed it to place a temporary building on the site until it constructed another branch nearby. In exchange, the agency was to pay the bank more than $1 million to compensate it for the loss of its 18-year lease, building fixtures and equipment.

But construction on the new branch never began. John Davis, a vice president of real estate for Bank of America, said the delay was caused by a dispute over the amount of compensation. The redevelopment agency, he said, “refused to comply with their part of the agreement, which included reimbursing the bank for moving.”

Don Spivack, the redevelopment agency’s director of operations, disagreed with that assessment. He said the agency complied with the terms of the agreement. “We have done everything we were obligated to do in a timely manner,” he said.

The two sides planned to meet last week with a judge to negotiate their remaining differences.

In the meantime, Bank of America plans to remain in its present location for at least five more months while the new branch is being constructed. The work will begin in a few weeks, Davis said.

“I don’t consider the bank delaying the supermarket,” he said. “Our trailers are not taking up the entire parking lot.”