The Covina City Council has approved a project to build 117 new, three-story townhomes and a transit center for buses on Citrus Avenue at the site of a closed Kmart.

Dubbed Covina Forward, the project, located at 1162 N. Citrus Ave. will also include a community and business center. The project site covers 10.66 acres at Citrus and Covina Boulevard and includes three properties, including a former day care and the Kmart, which closed two years ago. The property is surrounded by residential neighborhoods and a commercial shopping center to the south.

The council voted 5-0 to approve the project, which is being developed by MLC Holdings Inc. in partnership with the city and Foothill Transit, at a special meeting Nov. 29.

Mayor Kevin Stapleton said he believed the development would be “a nice project” for the city.

Foothill Transit will operate the center, which will provide bays for up to six buses. There will be about 380 parking spaces in a parking garage for commuters using existing local bus lines that service transportation to Metro’s Gold Line and the Metrolink station. The center will also facilitate a new express bus into downtown Los Angeles.

Stapleton noted that the center won’t add much traffic to the area because the commuters and the buses are already there.

“It’s not a bus station in the sense that people think of a bus station,” he said. “It’s primarily moving those bus stops off the streets.”

The townhomes, a mix of three- and four-bedroom units, will range from 1,700 square feet to 2,000 square feet and each will have a two-car garage. There will also be a recreation center, pool and open space within the residential development, according to city documents.

The units will be sold at market value, estimated at around $400,000 to $500,000, in an area where housing has been in short supply and rents are continuing to increase.

After residents living nearby the project raised concerns about noise, the council approved raising a wall between properties located to the east of the project site, Stapleton said.

Construction is expected to begin early this year, according to a city statement.