LOUISIANA SITE FIGHT: STORE PLANS IN FLUX

Wal-Mart says Veterans store plans in flux [The Times-Picayune]

More than two months after its designs for a new store at the Kenner-Metairie line were rejected, Wal-Mart said it remains interested in the site but has no timeline for development.

The retailing giant’s proposal for a Supercenter this year lacked the parking spaces and other features needed to satisfy parish codes. It was partially withdrawn and partially voted down at a Jefferson Parish Council meeting in April.

A Wal-Mart official said then that it would take about two months for the store to return with new plans, but he said this week that a companywide slowdown in growth and the possibility of buying more property around the site are causing delays.

“We definitely want to be there,” Wal-Mart spokesman Tice White said of the location, which straddles the 8900 block of Veterans Memorial Boulevard in Metairie and the 2800 block of Veterans in Kenner. “That’s the best location to provide the goods and the services to our customers.”

If the Supercenter opens on the south side of Veterans, White has said, the company likely would close its conventional store nearby on the north side.

“When we come back, it’s going to be a situation where we’ve made adjustments to our plan,” he said.

The goal, White said, is to present a plan that addresses neighbors’ concerns and meets all parish zoning rules without needing any special approval from the Parish Council.

The property now holds a mostly empty shopping center and already has the commercial land use designation needed for the store.

To create enough space for parking and landscaping, White said, the company is studying whether to build a smaller store or buy land now occupied by the only remaining businesses on the parcel, an A-1 Appliance and Electronics Store and a Piccadilly Cafeteria.

Representatives in Piccadilly’s corporate office in Baton Rouge did not return messages seeking comment, but A-1 is not interested in moving.

“A-1 has a lease, and we intend to remain at the mall,” said Bill Finn, an attorney for A-1. “In fact, A-1 is about to begin further renovation of the property to make it better and to help revitalize the shopping center as a whole.”

White said A-1’s resistance is another factor delaying the project.

“We were never going to try to pressure anybody,” White said. “We’re really re-evaluating everything.”

He said a less likely strategy for creating more parking space is to build a rooftop lot.

Neighbors, meanwhile, continue nervously watching the company’s moves and the shopping center’s deteriorating condition.

“I personally don’t prefer to have a Wal-Mart across the street from me, a 24-hour place,” said Paul Fererro, who lives in a neighborhood of single-family homes south of the shopping center. He said he would prefer a smaller, quieter business with limited hours, such as a bookstore.

“It’s still neglected,” neighbor Michelle Pool said of the shopping center. “We’re still just waiting and kind of wondering what are they going to do with this building.”

Todd Laurent, another neighbor, said the largely abandoned shopping center poses aesthetics and safety problems.

“It’s really, really becoming a problem,” Laurent said. “Something needs to be done with it, but not on a Wal-Mart scale.

“Where is the parish and code enforcement?” Laurent asked.

Jefferson’s code enforcement director, Louis Savoye, said efforts to battle blight at the shopping center have been slowed by changes in the property’s ownership. But he said the parish required the landowner to secure the empty buildings. Under parish codes, he said, inspectors have no authority to cite buildings simply for being vacant.

“They finally secured the buildings,” Savoye said. “Right now there’s nothing out there that I know of that’s illegal. It may be undesirable, but it’s not illegal.”