New retail center planned in Carson. (Up Front).

A one million-square-foot retail and entertainment center is planned for a 157-acre landfill site in Carson under a joint venture of retail developer GMS Realty LLC and brownfields investment firm Cherokee Investment Partners.

Construction of the estimated $100 million center could begin as soon as environmental remediation was completed.

The property is part of a 320-acre redevelopment area Carson is looking to master plan into a retail, industrial and residential community.

The remediation process would take between 12 and 18 months, according to Jeff Sterk, vice president at GMS Realty. Sterk would not disclose the purchase price or the cost of remediation.

Clean land in the area would sell for $10 to $12 a square foot (pegging the total cost at around $70 million), according to Grubb & Ellis Co. Senior Vice President Kevin Shannon.

Estimating the value of land that needs remediation, he said, is nearly impossible. "Sometimes, (the value) is negative."

Ron Azad, senior director at CB Richard Ellis Investors and representative of the Glaziers Union, which has owned the site for 10 years, would not comment on the deal.

"There's going to be public finance," said Margarita Cruz, redevelopment manager for the city of Carson, who would not specify the type of investment the city would make in the project. "We're still in negotiations."

The center would be the fifth in Los Angeles County for Carlsbad-based GMS, which controls 960,000 square feet of retail space, including the 435,000-square-foot Quad in Whittier.

Because of the remediation issues, a number of developers have looked at the site, most notably Columbus, Ohio-based REIT Glimcher Realty Trust, which considered the property for a factory outlet development, according to Bill Bauman, senior vice president with Colliers Seeley International Inc.

Once built, the site could attract big box retailers such as Lowe's Home Improvement and Costco, said Bauman.

"Those guys are going to have interest because the spacing between that site and existing stores is pretty good' said Bauman. "The 405 is the 'A' freeway in terms of visibility."