LA HABRA : City OKs Plans for Super K Mart Store

The first Super K mart Center in California will soon be built in the city, officials announced this week.

Council members voted unanimously Thursday to approve development plans for the store, which promises to employ 300 people and generate $35 million a year in taxable sales revenue, company and city officials said.

Two months ago, the council managed to persuade K mart officials to choose the city for the state’s first super-store. As part of the deal, the city agreed to purchase the land at the southeast corner of Idaho Street and Imperial Highway and lease it to K mart for $5.3 million. The land was purchased from Nationwide Theaters Corp. for $8.2 million.

K mart officials said they believe the new store will make money in the city.

“I’m very happy about this,” Mayor William D. Mahoney said. “This is just really going to be a good thing for our community. We’re going to do everything we can to make sure this (business) stays here, because we need it.”

City Manager Lee Risner said the store will “enhance the city’s tax base, bring in shoppers from surrounding cities and improve nearby businesses’ revenue.”

Construction of the 170,000-square-foot Super K mart will begin within four months, and the store is expected to be open by the end of 1994, Risner said.

It will be more than twice the size of a standard K mart and will be modeled after eight other Super K marts in Ohio, North and South Carolina, Mississippi and Georgia.