CarMax preparing to open store in Burbank

CarMax Inc., one of the nation’s largest retailers of used cars is

preparing to open a lot at the corner of Alameda Avenue and Flower

Street, a property officials once envisioned as community soccer

fields.

CarMax, Inc., which operates 60 superstores nationwide that buy

and sell used vehicles, is in the initial stages of opening a

20,000-square-foot store on the lot.

Plans, which the company’s Public Relations Manager Trina Lee

warned were “really preliminary,” will likely be for a store with

room for 300 to 400 vehicles and employ 75 to 100 people.

The company currently operates six superstores in Southern

California, in Buena Park, Duarte, Irvine, Ontario and at Los Angles

International Airport. The company hopes to open another 15 to 20

stores in California within the next five to 10 years, Lee said.

“We’re always interested in areas where there’s a booming

economy,” Lee said. “There’s a vital retail area -- those are the

areas where we’re interested in potential stores.”

CarMax was likely drawn to Burbank because the company’s sales

research showed a percentage of customers coming from the area, she

said.

“We do consider where people are willing to travel to when we open

new markets,” Lee said. “We look at the research of sales, at where

we’re pulling customers from, where customers are underserved. Those

are the areas where we will go and look to potentially open a new

store location.”

Company officials are getting ready to begin the building permit

stage on the property, which is currently being leased by CarMax.

It will be at least 18 to 24 months before a store is built, Lee

said.

The property now has a 191,000-square-foot building on it,

according to the Los Angeles County Office of the Assessor’s website.

Redevelopment officials envisioned soccer fields on the property,

but buying the property from the New Jersey-based owners would have

been too expensive, said Bill Emmett, a redevelopment project

analyst.

“[The site has] been leased to a couple of car uses, automobile

uses, and lo and behold, CarMax shows up,” Emmett said. “It’s

certainly an improvement to the vacant piece of land that’s been

sitting there. Plus, there will be lots of sales tax generated and

that’s something very appealing for the city.”

QUESTION

What do you think of a car dealership going in where soccer fields

were once envisioned? E-mail your responses to o7burbankleader

@latimes.comf7; mail them to the Burbank Leader, 111 W. Wilson Ave.,

Glendale, CA, 91203. Please spell your name and include your address

and phone number for verification purposes only.