Ground Broken for New Lowe's Store Will Anchor $40 Million Center

Jim Skeen

June 10, 2004

LANCASTER - City officials and developers broke ground ceremoniously Wednesday for a Lowe's home improvement store that will anchor a $40 million shopping center.

The $15 million, 180,000-square-foot Lowe's store is being built at Avenue K and 10th Street West, once a major shopping center but largely vacant for more than 10 years because of recession and legal haggling. When the store is ready to open, in about six months, it will employ 175 people.

"Lowe's is significant because it will anchor the north end of a commercial corridor along 10th Street West," said Mayor Frank Roberts.

The store will anchor a new shopping area called Lancaster Town Center, which will have 300,000 square feet of retail space.

Once fully occupied, the center will generate $100 million in annual sales and will employ 400 to 500 workers. Lowe's stores typically generate over $31 million in annual sales.

No other tenants have been announced, but developer Robert Isackson said he expects to soon be able to announce a major tenant from a national chain.

From the 1950s through the 1980s, the property was one of Lancaster's biggest shopping centers. But after Sears relocated to the Antelope Valley Mall in Palmdale in 1991, the property started to become an eyesore.

The Sears building and a former car dealership immediately south of it were demolished in 2000.

Redeveloping the property was delayed by the recession of the 1990s and by legal haggling to clear up the 1950s-era deed restrictions that required any new stores be built on the same pads and in the same size that the original buildings were first constructed.

After legal wrangling, the city acquired a nearly one-acre parcel to lift the restrictions and sold the property to the developers.

"It's going to be a tremendous shopping center in the heart of Lancaster," said City Manager Jim Gilley.

City officials believe the project will spur other retail development in the area. To help attract retail businesses, Lancaster hired The Buxton Co., a Fort Worth, Texas, firm that specializes in retail-site selection. Under a $60,000 contract, the company completed an analysis of three shopping areas, including the former Sears site.

The Avenue K and 10th Street West site has a surrounding population of 114,716 people, according to the analysis. The average household income for that area was estimated at $64,488, and the traffic count was 67,100 vehicles a day.

City officials believe those numbers will be attractive to potential retailers. The consultant also provided the city with detailed information on potential shoppers in the area that includes lifestyles and products they are likely to purchase.

Jim Skeen, (661) 267-5743

james.skeen(at)dailynews.com

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