Sunrise, CA. Sunset Falling On Third Sunrise Store

Wal-Mart scraps plans for third store in Sunrise [South Florida Sun-Sentinel]

Wal-Mart has scrapped plans to build a third store in the heart of the city.

In a letter to the city last week, Wal-Mart withdrew its application to build a 24-hour store at the southwest corner of Oakland Park Boulevard and Pine Island Road, but did not provide a reason, said Mark Lubelski, director of the Planning and Development Department.

Broward Circuit Judge John A. Frusciante, one of several family members who hoped to sell the 18-acre property to Wal-Mart after the city approved the store’s plans, blamed Sunrise’s protracted building review process for Wal-Mart’s pullout.

“It’s very disappointing,” Frusciante said in a telephone interview. “The city did not act on the plans Wal-Mart submitted in a timely manner.”

But Lubelski said Wal-Mart’s plans could not be approved before the store addressed traffic and land development issues.

“It was a very complicated project with many complicated issues,” Lubelski said.

Plans submitted to the city about 18 months ago called for a 176,000-square-foot Wal-Mart “supercenter” on a grassy plot zoned for commercial purposes. Lubelski said Wal-Mart had revised its plans three times based on recommendations from city planners.

Wal-Mart representatives said Tuesday they were preparing a response on the pullout.

Commissioner Sheila Alu said Wal-Mart had most likely dropped its plans for the new store because of the tighter economy.

As such, Alu said Wal-Mart representatives intend to renovate and reopen the Wal-Mart at University Drive and Oakland Park Boulevard, closed after being damaged in Hurricane Wilma two years ago. Another Wal-Mart is located near Northwest 136th and Sunrise Boulevard.

Echoing the concerns of a vocal group of Longacre residents who told the City Commission last year that the new Wal-Mart would induce gridlock, Deputy Mayor Roger Wishner said Tuesday that the store would have been inappropriate for the neighborhood.

Posted by Corey Himrod on Wednesday, October 10, 2007

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