Glendale, Burbank to share Home Depot

Gretchen Hoffman

Shoppers at a Home Depot store set to open in about a year and a

half will be able to walk to Glendale and back without leaving the

store.

At Tuesday’s Redevelopment Agency meeting, the Glendale City

Council voted unanimously to go ahead with the 140,000-square-foot

hardware headquarters, which will straddle the two cities at 1200 S.

Flower St. in Burbank and 801 Allen Ave. in Glendale.

The cities will divvy up the sales-tax revenues in proportion to

how much of the store sits in each city -- 77% to Burbank and 23% to

Glendale -- in the first tax-sharing venture between the neighbors,

Glendale City Manager Jim Starbird said.

“Other cities might have said, ‘Hey, we’ll put the whole thing in

our city and take all the tax dollars,’ ” Glendale City Councilman

Gus Gomez said. “It’s a real plus for both Glendale and Burbank.”

The cooperative agreement has been five years in the making.

Because most of the building is outside Glendale city limits, Burbank

will serve as the lead city in terms of building inspections, police

response and utilities.

A traffic study is underway to determine the effect the store will

have on surrounding neighborhoods.

The store is expected to bring in between $100,000 to $200,000 in

revenue to Glendale each year, Starbird said, and is expected to

generate $40 million in sales its first years, generating about

$92,000 in sales tax for Glendale, according to the staff report.

Glendale City Councilman Bob Yousefian, who has been a contractor

for 20 years, seized the opportunity to take a Home Depot spokesman

to task about what he said are overly long lines at the store at 5040

San Fernando Road in Glendale.

“I can tell you, at times it is extremely frustrating, and it

takes an hour and a half after we find our items to check out,” he

said.