City Council Approves South LA Shopping Center

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The City Council has given final approval to a controversial South Los Angeles shopping center, a development project that had been delayed several times.

Representatives of Stanley Kramer, the former partial owner of the property, told the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday that they would continue to challenge the project.

The city's Community Redevelopment Agency seized the site of Kramer's former recycling facility to build the shopping center with $7 million in public subsidies.

City officials say the project will create jobs and bring a supermarket to a blighted area, but opponents accuse developers of fraud and corruption.

Regency Centers, which is co-developing the site with a local non-profit, says it plans to invest $15 million in the project and predicts a 10 percent annual return.

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