FULLERTON, Calif. -- Leaders of Grace Ministries International, a 2,500-member Korean-American congregation, joined city and business leaders on Feb. 10 in a ground-breaking ceremony for the group's 26-acre campus. The site will eventually host Fullerton's largest church and a private high school.

According to the Orange County Register, Fullerton's Korean population topped 9,000 in 2000, more than any other U.S. city.

"This will be a great addition to this community, a center of spirituality and education that fits in with Fullerton's motto, 'The Education Community,' " Mayor Don Bankhead said.

The ceremony kicked off an aggressive construction schedule that seeks to build a temporary sanctuary, classrooms for as many as 500 students and a community gymnasium by September.

A permanent 2,500-seat sanctuary will be built in a second phase by 2006, Grace officials said. The project is expected to cost $5 million to $8 million.

Many doubted the plans would ever take shape after city planners hesitated to give up the large chunk of property-tax-generating industrial land for nonprofit use.

But church leaders incorporated a private school, a banquet hall and wedding-related retail shops expected to generate as much as $74,000 annually in sales-tax revenue.

"We know that it had to be very hard for the city to give up this kind of lot for a nonprofit use," the Rev. David Kwang-Shin Kim told the crowd. "But we hope we have a plan here that is beneficial to the entire community."

The church plans to offer free after-school tutoring programs to students in the mostly Hispanic neighborhood surrounding it. And when the 16,000-square-foot gymnasium is finished later this year, it will be open to the community.

"We want people to know that we are appreciative of the tremendous support and are serious about being part of this community," said David Choye, a spokesman for Grace.