LOS ANGELES-The year was 1990. George Bush (the first one) was president. Tim Berners-Lee wrote the first web page. Vanilla Ice topped the charts. And a legal battle began over a patch of land in South Central L.A. that developers wanted for a new shopping center.

Last week, ground was finally broken on the Juanita Tate Marketplace, that patch of land that has turned into a $21 million retail project. It is located at the southwest corner of Central Ave. and Slauson Ave. in South Central Los Angeles.

Regency Centers Corp. is backing the project in partnership with Concerned Citizens of South Central Los Angeles and the Community Redevelopment Agency of Los Angeles, bringing an infill neighborhood retail center to an underserved area of Los Angeles.

The former brownfield lot once housed a metal scrap yard, an automobile oil filter recycling facility, and an abandoned railroad right-of-way. The remediated brownfield now will become the only center in the immediate trade area to have a grocery and a drug store. Only two grocery-anchored centers have been developed within the area in the past 15 years, with the nearest being 2.5 miles away.

The 77,096-square-foot shopping center is named in honor of community activist Juanita Tate, who is deceased.

The marketplace will be anchored by Northgate Gonzalez Market (42,500 square feet) and a 14,576-square-foot CVS. Leases are being negotiated with Panda Express, Starbucks, Wing Stop, Waba Grill, a bank, dentist and yogurt shop, according to John Mehigan, VP Investments at Regency Centers. The site will include a 1,050-square-foot educational community center operated by CCSCLA. The center is slated to open in first quarter 2014.

“We appreciate the support of the City of Los Angeles and CCSCLA for helping us bring this project to life,” said a statement from Mac Chandler, managing director for Regency Centers. “We know this project has been a long time coming and we strongly believe the community will benefit from Juanita Tate Marketplace, both in the addition of retailers and services offered as well as in the creation of new jobs in the area, all of which Juanita Tate worked hard to bring to this community.”

Why did the project take so long to break ground? Mehigan tells GlobeSt.com that “the former property owners filed a law suit against the city challenging the condemnation.” The suits wound their way through the courts until a final settlement was reached last year. “After that, it took us a year to clean up the environmental contamination.”

The opportunity to transform the lot started when CCSCLA sought a development partner to build a neighborhood retail center near its headquarters. In 1999, CRA/LA issued an RFP seeking proposals for the redevelopment of the property. In 2000, CRA/LA selected Slauson Central LLC, a joint venture between Regency and CCSCLA, and a development agreement was executed in 2003.

“CCSCLA, taking direction from the community, set out to develop a shopping center on this site in 1990,” said a statement from Noreen McClendon, executive director of CCSCLA. “Throughout the years and despite the formidable obstacles, we never gave up the fight to provide the community what it asked for and what we committed to provide. My mother is smiling from heaven and would be especially proud of the fact that we are recycling on-site materials to be reused in the final project.”

For Northgate, this new store marks the 38th location in Southern California and the second ground-up build in the past two years. The Juanita Tate Marketplace store will feature an in-store tortilleria and bakery, a full and self-service meat department, a large Rancho Gonzalez produce offering and Northgate's prepared foods made in their Mexican-style kitchen.

Northgate will also offer a full assortment of groceries, both Hispanic and national brands, as well as a selection of healthy food alternatives.

“Our entire Northgate family is excited to see this day happen as we've worked hard during the last seven years to bring a quality store to this great neighborhood,” said a statement from Oscar Gonzalez, COO of Northgate Gonzalez Market. “We look forward to building and opening a great neighborhood store that will cater to the surrounding community with great service, quality products and fresh foods, all while adding more than 100 new jobs into the marketplace.”

Regency owns and operates 19 centers, totaling 2.3 million square feet, in the Los Angeles market. The properties are managed by a 24-member team with an office in Los Angeles County.

As previously reported by GlobeSt.com, the South Los Angeles area is starting to generate activity. A senior housing complex, Broadwood Terrace, will soon rise in the area.