Hollypark Complex Plan OKd

The Gardena City Council Tuesday unanimously approved a plan by a Los Angeles developer to build an $8-million commercial and office complex at the site of a boarded-up grocery store that has stood vacant for nearly three years.

The lot, at Rosecrans and Van Ness avenues in the city’s Hollypark section, has been the object of complaints from nearby residents since the Ralphs grocery store there closed in 1986.

Developers Dae Yang and Hee Yang of Koman Enterprises submitted plans to raze two buildings on the site, the former grocery store and a women’s clothing store, and build a 25,000-square-foot supermarket, a two-story, 23,200-square-foot office building, and a 8,224-square-foot retail commercial building, including space for a restaurant, said Assistant City Manager Mitchell Lansdell.

Neighbors have complained that the lot is an eyesore and attracts vandals, gangs and people selling used cars. Members of the Hollypark Homeowners Assn. say a grocery store is needed in the neighborhood and had lobbied city officials to find a supermarket chain or an independent grocer to open a store at the site.