ANOTHER HEARING IN CORPUS CHRISTI, TX

Parkdale Wal-Mart hearing is set [Corpus Christi Caller-Times (Texas)]

A hearing on a lawsuit that has delayed Wal-Mart’s plan for a Supercenter at Parkdale Plaza is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Thursday in the 148th District Court.

Clarifications on the lease agreement between Parkdale Plaza’s owners and Sutherlands are sought in the lawsuit. The Supercenter was supposed to have a grand opening early this year.

Sutherlands officials have said their lease prevents the landlord from allowing another prospective tenant to be “permitted to sell building materials and/or home improvement supplies and services.”

Sutherlands attorney Jim Robichaux of Corpus Christi could not be reached for comment Monday. Previously he said the lease needs to be clearly defined and Wal-Mart needs to show its proposed business model and how that would not affect Sutherlands’ business and lease.

Van Huseman, an attorney representing the Parkdale Plaza owners, said the hearing was procedural and would determine who would get depositions first and other information related to the lawsuit. The trial date has not been set, he said.

These issues are preventing his clients from establishing a land purchase agreement with Wal-Mart, he has said.

Wal-Mart officials declined to comment because of the pending litigation, but the location at Parkdale still is under consideration for a Supercenter, a spokeswoman said.

Plans for another Supercenter on Timbergate Drive and South Staples Street fell apart when the landowners announced they are selling the property to H-E-B. That Supercenter proposal met opposition to its requests for rezoning. H-E-B said it has not decided what to do with the property.

The Wal-Mart Supercenter at Parkdale is expected to be 203,000 square feet, with an additional 44,000 square feet for other tenants.

About 400 people would be employed at the Parkdale Supercenter.

Parkdale Plaza, on 41 acres at 4101 S. Staples St., opened in 1957. In its heyday it was a busy shopping center with its vast parking lot. But the crowds melted away quickly with the opening in 1970 of Padre Staples Mall, aging infrastructure and the shift of the city’s heaviest retail action farther south and east.

Quick & Company vice president Richard Runde purchased the Parkdale Plaza property in August 2005.

Posted by Joel Nezianya on Tuesday, June 24, 2008

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