Hulking factory-outlet mall to break ground in Carson in July.

A crippling recession has brought commercial construction activity in Los Angeles County to a virtual standstill for years. But come July, some 2,000 construction workers are scheduled to break ground on Metro 2000, designed to be the county's third-largest shopping mall.

The 1.8-million-square-foot, $150 million factory outlet mall is targeted for a 157-acre site at the intersection of the San Diego (405) and Harbor (110) freeways in Carson.

Not only will it bring a much-needed boost to local construction employment in the short run, but it is also expected to boost permanent employment by 5,000 jobs and generate retail sales of between $400 million and $500 million a year once it is completed and fully leased, reported Bob Sonnenblick, director of leasing for Metro 2000 and a partner of Sonnenblick-Goldman Co., co-developer of the project.

But that huge project, and all its attendant economic benefits, could be delayed if the State of California and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency cannot agree on a plan to build a methane recovery system on the development site. Methane is a flammable gas generated by decaying garbage and is prevalent throughout the Southland.

Part of the Metro 2000 site was used as a landfill up until 1962. Carson city planners want the methane removal system installed to avoid the threat of explosions, Sonnenblick said.

Carson planners and Sonnenblick said they are working out the details of the methane recovery system, an underground network of perforated plastic pipe through which the methane will be pumped from the ground. Sonnenblick said he does not foresee problems with the methane issue.

However, the California Environmental Protection Agency asked the Metro 2000 partners in January to drill 400-foot-deep test wells on the development site to see if water seepage through the former landfill has contaminated the underlying ground water, said Richard Varenchik, a spokesman for the California EPA branch of toxic substances.

Metro 2000 developers must pay to seal off the development site or cleanse the ground water if it is polluted, Varenchik said.

"If we find ground water contamination, it could delay the start of toxic removal and construction until the end of summer of early fall," he added.

Calling "toxics" an exaggerated term for the methane-producing buried garbage, Sonnenblick insisted he does not see any long-term problems.

Four centers like the proposed Metro 2000 have already been built by companies not affiliated with Metro 2000; one each in Ft. Lauderdale Fla., Washington D.C., Philadelphia and Chicago, Sonnenblick said.

"But there is nothing like this on the West Coast, and we are so committed to the concept that in October of this year, we will start construction on a second, identical mall, the Inland Empire Metro Mall, on a site near the intersection of Interstate 10 and the 215 freeway in Colton," Sonnenblick reported.

Sonnenblick said he is offering prospective tenants a special but undisclosed lease rate to take space in both the Carson and Colton mega-malls.

"It (the Colton center) is the same exact floor plan and it already has been approved by Colton authorities," Sonnenblick said.

Sonnenblick added that he is working to get "letters of intent" to lease space from Nordstrom Rack, Burlington Coat Factory and May Co. Clearance Centers.

Retailers that have already signed letters of intent to lease outlet space in Metro 2000, according to Sonnenblick, include: Arrow Shirt; Champion Sportswear; Chess King, a young men's clothing store; Clothestime, a women's clothing store; Corning Housewares; Joan & David Shoes; J. Jacobs, a women's clothing store; Lingerie for Less; Miller's Outpost; Payless Shoes; Smith Corona; Sarah Coventry Jewelry and Wilson Leather and Suede.

Other potential tenants, according to Sonnenblick, include Silo, Staples, an office supply store; Ross Dress for Less; Home Express; Sam Goody's Musicland; Oshman's Sporting Goods; 9 West Shoes and LAX Luggage, Sonnenblick said.

No tenants have actually signed leases yet, Sonnenblick added, because they are waiting until the project is further along. Its scheduled completion date is the second quarter of 1995.

"We have letters of intent from retailers who collectively will lease 900,000 square feet of space in Metro 2000," Sonnenblick claimed.

About two-thirds of Metro 2000's 1.8 million square feet of space is to be contained in a two-story enclosed mall that will house eight anchor tenants, 185 mall shops and 15 food court restaurants. The remaining 600,000 square feet will be housed in adjacent detached structures.

Metro 2000 is being developed by Metro Mall Partners, a partnership between S.G. Outlet Co., which is a subsidiary of the New York-based investment banking firm Sonnenblick-Goldman, and Carson Realty.

Financing for the mega-mall is being provided by construction union pension funds and a real estate investment trust (REIT), said Sonnenblick.

General contractors on both the Carson and Colton mega-malls are Laguna Niguel-based Birtcher Construction Co. and Dallas-based Brown & Root Construction Co.

Santa Monica-based Kekst Architects is designing both malls, Sonnenblick said.

Chris Facas, general manager of the South Bay Pavilion at Carson, formerly the Carson Mall, said he and the management still are not sure how Metro 2000 will impact their business.

"On one hand, the discount factory outlet stores they are attracting do not compete with our tenants. But there are only so many retail dollars in Southern California," Facas conceded.

Retail analysts are sending out conflicting signals, Facas said. Some say the future of retail is the discount center, where shoppers mostly help themselves and paw through piles of merchandise. Others claim, by the time Metro 2000 opens in 1995, shoppers will swing back to full-service retailers, Facas said.

Howard Wong, a retail leasing agent at the Torrance office of commercial brokerage firm Grubb & Ellis Co., said Metro 2000 will indeed steal business away from other South Bay retailers.

"Metro 2000 will draw people from throughout Southern California. I don't think it will hurt the tenants in the neighborhood retail centers (those anchored by a grocery and/or super drug store), but they will hurt the department stores," Wong said.

The Metro 2000 site is located just a few miles from the sprawling Del Amo Fashion Center in Torrance, L.A. County's largest shopping center. With some 3 million square feet of building space, Del Amo is about twice the size planned for Metro 2000.

But Sonnenblick promised Metro 2000 will offer "completely different shopping experiences" than either Del Amo or the South Bay Pavilion.

Ted Lawson, a retail leasing expert at the Torrance office of commercial brokerage CB Commercial Real Estate Group Inc., said Metro 2000's Carson location is one of the best in Southern California because it can be reached from the San Diego (405), Harbor (110) and Redondo Beach (91) freeways from both Los Angeles and Orange counties.