Boxing’s golden boy Oscar De La Hoya is purchasing the iconic Sears warehouse and store site in Boyle Heights that he frequented with his mother while growing up in the area.

Plans call for an intensive redevelopment of the property, adding housing and retail to the site. The 22-acre property is the largest redevelopment opportunity in East Los Angeles and one of the biggest in the city.

De La Hoya agreed last week to purchase the property for more than $70 million. His company, Los Angeles-based Golden Boy Enterprises LLC, in conjunction with partners Manarino Realty and Highridge Partners Inc., both Southern California developers, purchased the property from MJW Investments Inc.

“We have always wanted to do a project with Oscar De La Hoya,” said Bud Ovrum, Los Angeles deputy mayor for economic development. “We really think that his star power will add something special to the project and perhaps make it easier to attract good tenants and good uses because of the high regard in which he is held by so many people.”

The property, which is located at Olympic Boulevard and Soto Street, includes a still-operating Sears retail store and a long-closed Sears, Roebuck & Co. distribution center in a 1.8 million-square-foot complex.

The industrial parcel, which is near the Los Angeles River, would require zone changes for a redevelopment plan to move forward. The property also lacks the necessary entitlements for a mixed-use project. Ovrum said that city subsidies will be necessary to make the property’s planned retail component – which could be between 700,000 and 900,000 square feet – pencil out economically.

The property is expected to go into escrow within days and the deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2008. Sources say the redeveloped site could be opened in 2012.

When asked about details of the project, Bob Manarino said, “We aren’t in the position to comment yet.” His Irvine-based Manarino Realty specializes in retail development.

About 25 groups expressed interest in the site. Finalists are said to have included CIM Group Inc., Fifteen Group and Capri Capital Advisors LLC.

“It was a long process to find the right buyer,” said Mark Weinstein, who heads Santa Monica-based MJW Investments, which had owned the property since 2004 and had long planned a redevelopment of the site.

“The community is really diverse and it is important that the buyers that were selected would meet the needs of the community and have the financial wherewithal and firepower to get the project done,” he said.

Diverse mixed-use

Although the new owners’ plans are not yet clear, Weinstein said he expects the new owners to pursue a plan that would be similar to what he had envisioned.