Home Depot to Settle on Harbor Boulevard

Saying it will provide this city with hundreds of jobs and hundreds of thousands of dollars in sales tax revenue, city officials this week approved an agreement for the Home Depot to open a new store on Harbor Boulevard.

City Manager Jerry L. Bankston said that when the store opens, it is expected to generate $400,000 in sales tax revenue.

Home Depot U.S.A. Inc., headquartered in Fullerton, will pay $6.3 million for the property at 600 S. Harbor. The city’s Redevelopment Agency will purchase it, using the Home Depot’s money, from Rosemont Analytical Inc., an electronics company.

Once escrow closes, the agency immediately will transfer the deed to the home improvement company, Bankston said.

The purchase agreement was negotiated in an effort to get the Home Depot to commit to buying the property, he said. By having the agency hand over the land to the company, the agency would be responsible for cleaning any contaminant or other environmental problem that could occur during construction.

The City Council, acting as the agency board, said it was willing to take the risk, because two environmental firms have determined that such a scenario is unlikely.

Bankston said the Home Depot plans to build a 130,000-square-foot store and two other buildings totaling 67,000 square feet that it will lease as retail and restaurant space.