Burbank Expected to OK Wal-Mart Deal : Retail: The agreement would open negotiations for a shopping center on the Lockheed site.
The Burbank City Council is expected to approve an agreement Tuesday to negotiate exclusively with Wal-Mart Stores for the development of an $111-million shopping center for discount retailers on property being vacated by Lockheed Corp., officials said.
Under the agreement, Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest retailer, and city officials will negotiate for up to 10 months on the planned open-air center, which would have a minimum of 750,000 square feet of retail space and could grow to almost 1 million square feet, city officials said.
The center would be anchored by a 110,000-square-foot Wal-Mart discount department store and a 120,000-square-foot Sam’s Club, a warehouse that carries supplies for small businesses.
Other large specialty retail stores in the center could include outlets for home electronics and appliances, home improvement, designer discount and off-price clothing, sporting goods and toys.
City Manager Bud Ovrom has said the center would be one of the largest of its kind in the nation. He called the proposed complex a major power center, a term for open-air shopping complexes anchored by large discount stores and supplemented by several smaller stores.
The plan calls for Wal-Mart to buy the 89.5-acre site from Lockheed for $71 million, officials said. The company would only pay the city 50% of the tax generated from sales at the center after it opens, the proposal says.
Also, Wal-Mart has agreed to pay the city $18 million for public improvements such as street widening, curb and gutters, street lighting and sidewalks, officials said.
The center is expected to generate more than $250 million in annual sales and create more than 2,000 jobs, officials said.
The council, acting as the city’s Redevelopment Agency, will vote on the agreement at Tuesday’s council meeting.
Final approval of the complex would be a pivotal step in converting Burbank from a city with a large manufacturing and industrial base to a town that caters to retailers and major media companies, officials said.
“Along with our new indoor mall, this center would solidly place Burbank as a prime retail destination,” Assistant City Manager Steve Helvey said. “This would be our first big stop out of the manufacturing base into the media, high-tech business and media uses we need in this city in the future.”
Burbank was shaken in the last year by the departure of several large industrial employers, including Lockheed, which has begun moving most of its operations to newer facilities in Palmdale, Rye Canyon in Santa Clarita and Marietta, Ga.
“We’re excited about the opportunity to serve Burbank,” Wal-Mart spokeswoman Kirsten Stehben said. But she declined to give further details about the project or comment on why store officials had chosen Burbank as a location.
Arkansas-based Wal-Mart, which has more than 1,700 stores nationwide, has located its outlets in smaller towns. The closest Wal-Mart stores to Los Angeles are in Lancaster and Palmdale.
