FURNITURE FIRM PLANS NEW OUTLET WICKES TO LEASE 42,000 SQUARE FEET.

Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer

PALMDALE - A Wickes Furniture store is expected to be among new tenants of a former Kmart building vacant since the discount chain retrenched in 2002.

The 122,000-square-foot building, one of the largest for retailers in Palmdale, is to be split into four stores under a site plan approved Thursday by Palmdale Planning Director Laurie Lile.

``We look forward to refurbishing the building that has been dark for several years,'' said Dan Otter of Sierra Development Group, one of the partners in the project.

Negotiations are under way with three other potential tenants of the building, located in a burgeoning retail sector near the Antelope Valley Mall, Otter said Thursday. Those talks have not progressed to the point where names can be disclosed, he added.

Work to accommodate the Wickes store could begin within a few weeks. The store - which will take up about 42,000 square feet, almost an acre under one roof - could be ready in five or six months, said Branko Prebanda, an architect working on the building.

Annexes of about 7,000 square feet for a Mimi's Cafe restaurant and about 4,500 square foot for medical offices also are planned in the makeover project.

Work on the Mimi's restaurant could also begin in a few weeks. The restaurant could be open this summer.

Kmart closed the store in 2002 during a companywide retrenchment from buildings the chain leased and did not own, like the one in Palmdale, built in 1994. Kmart's bankruptcy proceedings slowed down the sale process, officials said.

With nearly three acres of floor space, the building was acquired last spring from Verizon Capital by Otter's Palmdale-based Sierra Development Group and Century City-based Grae Ventures. The acquisition price was not disclosed.

Sierra Development and Grae Ventures are the same team that established the nearby 18-acre Amargosa Commons shopping center on 10th Street West, south of Rancho Vista Boulevard. Amargosa Commons brought in a Trader Joe's specialty grocery store, a Circuit City electronics store, a Panera Bread bakery-cafe, and a Rubio's Mexican restaurant. Previously, Sierra Development developed the Palmdale Promenade shopping center that contains the west Palmdale Wal-Mart and the nearby Marriott hotel complex.

Illinois-based Wickes Furniture has 31 showrooms nationwide and four major distribution centers: in Chicago, in the Minneapolis area, in Portland, Ore., and in Los Angeles.

Tustin-based Mimi's Cafe has some 80 restaurants in nine states, the closest in Valencia.

Jim Skeen, [phone]

james.skeen(at)dailynews.com