Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Home Depot Opens Doors of Canyon Country Store : Business: The retailer is expected to generate about $270,000 annually in local sales tax revenues. About 100 jobs are filled by local residents.

The largest home improvement retail outlet in the Santa Clarita Valley will open today, promising long-awaited increases in sales tax revenues and employment opportunities for this bedroom community but dashing the hopes of thousands of job-seekers who applied for 140 jobs.

The 102,000-square-foot Home Depot store at 20642 Golden Triangle Road is the first major discount home improvement retailer in the Santa Clarita Valley.

The Canyon Country store is expected to contribute an average of $270,000 annually in sales tax revenues to the city--nearly doubling the current annual sales tax revenues of $300,000 generated by construction suppliers--according to Steve Stark, city finance director.

In addition to producing new sales and property tax revenues, the new store will provide more than 140 new jobs. About 40 of the employee positions were filled by transfers from other stores while about 100 positions were filled by local job seekers, said Eric Henry, assistant store manager.

More than 6,000 job-seekers--”an unusually high number,” according to Henry--have filed for positions since the store began accepting applications in mid-October.

The store will feature a separate 28,000-square-foot garden center with a 7,000-square-foot, climate-controlled enclosure for house plants. More than 30,000 different items are in stock, including building materials, home improvement and lawn and garden products.

Each of the chain’s 260 retail outlets in 22 states across the nation generate an average of $40 million in annual sales, company officials said.

Construction workers this week are completing about $1.06 million in street improvements to Golden Triangle Road at Reuther Avenue, providing a realignment of roads and new railroad crossing leading to the store.

Under agreements between the city and the Atlanta-based retailer, the city will reimburse Home Depot about $690,000 in street improvement costs, to be paid over the next seven years from sales tax revenues generated by the retailer, Stark said.

Santa Clarita Mayor George Pederson and officials of the Canyon Country and Santa Clarita Valley chambers of commerce will participate in a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 9 a.m. to mark the opening.

Michael Haviland, city marketing and economic development manager, said feasibility studies and marketing surveys concluded “from a marketing prospective that we clearly had an unmet need.” He said the opening of the new store is evidence of Santa Clarita “continuing to strengthen its identity as a retail center.”