AURORA — A long-vacant shopping center on the northeast corner of East Mississippi Avenue and South Peoria Street is poised for revitalization following the opening of a Pacific Ocean Marketplace and several Asian businesses this summer.

Trong Lam, the owner of two other metro-Denver Pacific Ocean Marketplaces, proposed a nearly 100,000 square foot renovation of the 200,000 square foot shopping center in 2012. Half of the full property was dormant for about six years after an Albertsons closed in 2006, causing a domino effect of closures.

“We had this large space that had been sitting empty for a very long time that was impacting the appearance of the neighborhood and the shopping center across the street,” said Aurora city planner Chad Argentar. “(Lam’s) renovations are not just new paint or a new sign; it’s a significant, exterior transformation.”

Two vacant buildings — the 40,000 square foot Albertsons and a 54,000 square foot former Rite-Aid — were both acquired by Lam. Since construction on the $9 million project began in 2012, Lam has gutted everything but the framework and sliced the properties into nearly 20 individual store fronts that will be leased out.

“We basically just kept the building structure, but 95 percent of it is brand new,” Lam said. “One hundred percent of the exterior, including a roof, is new, and the stores will all be new.”

Lam said a third of the old Albertsons space and part of the connected Rite-Aid building will be the actual supermarket, which tops off at 57,000 square feet. The rest will be sublet to individual retailers for restaurants and shops.

Almost all of the small leases have been signed. Six restaurants including a Korean barbeque, Thai, Chinese, Vietnamese and Japanese restaurants are all slated to open after the supermarket in June. Other businesses include a coffee shop, gift store, clothing boutique and a salon.

“The population of Asians is high in Aurora,” Lam said. “I think that the city needs another Asian supermarket to service the customer base over there.”

Right now, Aurora is home to an H Mart at 2751 S. Parker Road and a Lotus Asian Market at 844 S Buckley Road.

Aurora is one of the most populous cities in the state for Asians. According to the 2010 Census, Asians make up nearly 5 percent of the total population with more than 16,000 residents who identify themselves as being of Asian decent.

Argentar said the opening reinforces Aurora as a diverse marketplace for ethnic restaurants and grocery stores.

The new Pacific Ocean Marketplace will be the largest of Lam’s stores.He opened his first in Denver in 1989 and then a second in Broomfield in 2004. He anticipates that 50 to 60 jobs will be created in the Aurora supermarket alone, and an additional 100 jobs will fill in the breakout shops.

The city hopes Lam’s initiative will rub off on some of the older businesses in the area.

“This is a major redevelopment for the shopping center,” Argentar said. “Even if the rest of the shopping center doesn’t do a lot of improvements, the fact that half the shopping center is going to have this massive face lift will hopefully encourage others to make some improvements.”

Megan Mitchell: 303-954-2650 or mmitchell@denverpost.com