Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Lancaster Will Aid 2 Firms That Provide Jobs, Sales Tax

LANCASTER — The City Council has unanimously agreed to sell land and provide financial aid to a motor home manufacturer and an outlet mall developer, saying their projects will bring badly needed jobs and sales tax dollars to the city.

At its meeting Monday night, the council voted to sell a 10-acre parcel, valued at $653,000, to Rexhall Industries Inc., a Saugus-based recreational vehicle maker, for $1. The company in turn must create at least 75 new jobs in Lancaster for at least a five-year period.

The land is in an industrial park near 7th Street West and Avenue G-12.

The sale to Rexhall generated no protests from residents attending Monday’s meeting.

In a second transaction, the council agreed to sell a 24-acre site, north of Lancaster Boulevard and west of the Antelope Valley Freeway, to Woodland Hills-based California Factory Stores for $2.27 million.

The developer plans to build an outlet mall that will include 50 to 60 stores. City officials say it will create up to 340 new jobs and generate about $19.5 million in sales tax revenue over 20 years.

To allow the developer to buy the land, the city’s redevelopment agency will provide a loan, charging 5% interest annually, with the principal due after 20 years.

The agency also will give the mall developer a $555,000 “pre-development loan” that will be forgiven as the project generates an equivalent sum in sales tax revenue. Finally, the agency will pay about $740,000 in developer fees and construct a new road to serve the mall.

Yehuda Netanel, president of California Factory Stores, said he could not disclose the names of merchants he is negotiating with to occupy the mall. But he said the center should be open for early Christmas shopping in 1994.

A local clothing store owner, Art Ekizian, told the council that the mall stores, offering apparel at discount prices, could pull customers away from existing shops.

“I definitely feel this project will affect my business, to the point where it will bring about the demise of it,” he said.

But Mayor Arnie Rodio said the council must create new sources of sales tax revenue to support the police protection and other services that Lancaster residents demand.