SOUTH CAROLINA SITE FIGHT: WAL-MART EYES CAROLINA FOREST

Wal-Mart eyes Carolina Forest [Myrtle Beach (S.C.) Sun News]

A second, new Wal-Mart is in the works for Horry County, planning and company officials said Monday.

Horry County Planning Director Janet Carter said the company submitted preliminary plans for a Wal-Mart at the corner of U.S. 501 and Myrtle Ridge Drive near Carolina Forest.

The site, currently home to a CVS that would become part of the new development, could also have a new Home Depot, Carter said.

As with another planned Wal-Mart in Garden City Beach, traffic is a concern.

“The engineering department is working with them on their traffic controls,” Carter said.

The zoning for that land will likely already accommodate a Wal-Mart and Home Depot, so the plans would need only staff approval.

That’s a similar scenario to what’s going on in Garden City, where Wal-Mart is looking to build a Superstore complex. Company officials submitted plans at the end of April and said they want to open the store by fall 2008.

The 184,109-square-foot center would have a grocery area, a garden center and a tire lube express, between Jamestown Drive and the Garden City Connector, beside Wild Wing Cafe and Krispy Kreme.

Details weren’t available about what kind of offerings the planned store on U.S. 501 would have.

Wal-Mart has five locations in Horry County, one in Georgetown County and three in Brunswick County, N.C.

The company doesn’t have any plans for additional Wal-Marts at this time on the Strand, said spokeswoman Tara Stewart.

A company directive in June called for Wal-Mart to scale back its construction of new stores from 300 to 170 annually, which leaves timelines for the two Horry County Wal-Marts unsure, Stewart said.

“It may be 2008, but it could be 2010 or 2011,” she said.

Stewart noted that the company has not purchased land for the U.S. 501 Wal-Mart and is still evaluating the site to determine if that’s the best place.

“The intentions are there, but we haven’t finalized anything,” she said.

Posted by Beth Gostanian on Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Click Here for a Printer-Friendly Version