HUNTINGTON BEACH : Indoor Swap Meets Allowed by City

The city soon may have indoor swap meets and flea markets.

City Council members voted to amend ordinances to permit indoor swap meets and flea markets to operate in buildings of at least 100,000 square feet in commercial and industrial areas for a maximum period of 10 years.

Triggering the council action was a request by officials of Frazer Tembley Enterprises to open an indoor swap meet in a vacant 200,000-square-foot building formerly occupied by the Weiser Lock Co. at McFadden Avenue and Graham Street.

The council action enables the company to begin the permit process.

Company officials told city representatives that the enterprise should generate sales taxes and fees of at least $200,000 a year. If businesses fall short of producing that goal, the company will make up the difference, they said.

Council member Ralph Bauer said the indoor swap meet “is a wonderful new concept in marketing.”

Bauer said that Huntington Beach residents pay about 20% less in sales taxes than the Orange County average because of a lack of commercial businesses, and that the indoor swap meet presents a good opportunity to capture tax dollars.

“In 10 years, taxes will amount to $2 million, and that’s nothing to sneeze at,” Bauer said Wednesday.

Bauer also said that the swap meet is targeted for an empty building in a city that has a 16% industrial vacancy rate.

It would have about 1,000 stalls and would operate on weekends and holidays, according to consultant Richard Harlow.