Forsyth, GA. Wal-Mart Backs Out
Wal-Mart has withdrawn plans for a superstore in Forsyth County that had been the subject of a four-year battle with neighboring homeowners.
The giant retailer said the decision was related to plans announced in June 2007 to more strategically prioritize the development of its supercenters.
“While this decision is certainly an appropriate one from a business standpoint, it takes nothing away from the fact that Forsyth is an excellent community and a great place to do business,” said Glen Wilkins, Wal-Mart senior manager of public affairs for Georgia. The retailer, which last year opened a new store on Atlanta Highway in Forsyth County, said as recently as February that it was proceeding with plans to build a supercenter along Ga. 141, between the Bridle Ridge and Laurel Springs subdivisions in Suwanee.
The fight over this Wal-Mart location started in 2004 and energized nearby homeowners to form the watchdog group Smart Growth Forsyth. In February, a 3-2 majority of the Forsyth County Commission ruled with Smart Growth, overturning a decision last May by the county Zoning Board of Appeals that would have allowed Wal-Mart to build a 175,000-square-foot store and obtain a stream buffer variance.
At that time, Wilkins said the plan was to move forward on a 170,000-foot store, with a 15-foot wall that protects the stream and a bridge that allows customers to cross the stream and enter the store.
Last week, Wal-Mart also announced it would not build a 176,000-square-foot supercenter at the corner of Peachtree Industrial Boulevard and Sugarloaf Parkway in Duluth. Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Tuesday, May 06 | 0 comments | Permalink Many residents of Duluth were thrilled on Thursday when they found out that Wal-Mart withdrew its plans to build a store in Duluth.
Since June, residents have been trying to stop the building of a 176,000-square-foot store on 32 acres of land at Peachtree Industrial Boulevard and Chattahoochee Drive. Glen Wilkins, a Wal-Mart spokesman, said the decision not to build the store rested on both a corporate edict to slow the development of Supercenters and actions taken by Duluth, which kept construction from being able to take place until late January.
Wilkins said he had an estimate of how much money Wal-Mart had spent to this point to have the store approved, but that he could not release the amount because it was proprietary.
Not building at the site was a business decision, he said, and not related to the hundreds of Duluth residents who protested the store’s location. He said there are no immediate plans to look for other locations for stores in the area. Read the rest of this story ... Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Monday, May 05 | 0 comments | Permalink Wal-Mart announced late Thursday night that it would not build a 176,000-square-foot Supercenter at the corner of Peachtree Industrial Boulevard and Sugarloaf Parkway in Duluth.
While every step of the stores rollout was greeted by crowds of protesters wearing red T-shirts and carrying “Stop Wal-Mart” signs, there was no indication that pressure from neighborhood group Smart Growth Gwinnett had an effect on the decision.
Instead, company spokesman Glen Wilkins said in a press release, the decision was “related to Wal-Mart’s announcement in June 2007 to more strategically prioritize development of Supercenters.”
There are already two Wal-Mart stores within six miles of the proposed location, in Duluth and neighboring Suwanee.
“While this decision is certainly an appropriate one from a business standpoint,” Wilkins said in the release, “it takes nothing away from the fact that Duluth is an excellent community and a great place to do business.” Read the rest of this story ... Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Monday, May 05 | 0 comments | Permalink
Here are the facts: Wal-Mart has proposed a super store in Duluth, Georgia. The proposed site is zoned general commercial (C-2) meaning a retail store is an allowed use within this zoning district. Wal-Mart’s engineering company has applied for several variances and the zoning board of appeals meets on 27 June, 2007 to address these variances. We understand the zoning board of appeals does not have the authority to approve or disapprove Wal-Mart locating here---just on the variances. Development plans have not been submitted, according to the Director of the City Planning and Development Department. We are one of about 10 subdivisions in the immediate area of the possible development.”
At the end of July, 2007, the city passed a six month moratorium on retail stores larger than 75,000 s.f. The moratorium affected at least three projects in Duluth, including the Wal-Mart proposal. On January 24, 2008, we updated the Duluth story to report that Jack Bandy, who owns the parcel Wal-Mart wants, had his friend, the former Governor of Georgia, Roy Barnes, file the suit in Gwinnett Superior Court, trying to invalidate the moratorium. Bandy also took his case to the Duluth Zoning Board of Appeals, trying to get that board to overrule the decision of the city’s Planning Director.
Read the rest of this story ... Posted by Al Norman on Monday, May 05 | 0 comments | Permalink A new Wal-mart Supercenter is on its way to Lynn Haven, but what else is coming with? Some city officials are looking forward to the convenience of having the store nearby.
“It’s going to be a win-win, for everybody in Lynn Haven and outside Lynn Haven,” said Lynn Haven Mayor Walter Kelly.
“I think if we had any more traffic,” said resident Rebecca Schubb, “it would not be a good idea.”
She lives right behind the land that will become the new store, but so do about 40 children.
“A lot of children walk up to the corner from all these side-streets to catch the bus,” she said.
Wal-mart will pay more than $2 million toward road improvements and new turn lanes to alleviate traffic for the projected 200 extra drivers a day, but it’s something Schubb didn’t expect when she moved across from wetlands. She says she has more concerns. Read the rest of this story ... Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Thursday, April 24 | 0 comments | Permalink
Wal-Mart officials would not comment on the abrupt stoppage, but city leaders came up with a truly unique rationale for the frozen project: Wal-Mart wants to make its store more Hispanic. The rumors started that Wal-Mart suddenly decided that it wanted to make a store that was “more locally focused.” That means more Mexican products to appeal to the large immigrant population in Hidalgo County.
A former Mayor of Penitas told the newspaper, “If you look at the people here, they’re going back over there (to Mexico) to buy products that they were raised with, Wal-Mart decided that they were going to do a new product mix, floor plan and make it directed towards Mexican clients.” The result is that a store which was slated to open this summer, now may not open until 2009, said Mayor Pro-Tem Marcos Ochoa.
The City Manager admitted that the city doesn’t have a clue about what’s happening, because the builders have not spoken to the city about their plans. The Mayor Pro Tem said he was unofficially told that Wal-Mart was taking a break in order to “reformat” the store. The real estate agent who made the land sale to Wal-Mart, told the media that Wal-Mart was “excited about the new concept for the store.” “They have been experimenting with new formats and they have chosen a new format for this store,” said broker John Womack. “We’re excited that it’s going to allow us to be distinguished from other stores in the region.”
Read the rest of this story ... Posted by Al Norman on Thursday, April 24 | 0 comments | Permalink
Bill targets Wal-Mart ‘tax evasion scheme’ [Rocky Mountain News]
Rep. Claire Levy, D-Boulder, introduced a tax bill designed to stop Wal-Mart and other companies from deducting real-estate expenses they’re paying to themselves.
Levy calls the technique an illegal tax evasion scheme.
The tactic, revealed by The Wall Street Journal in February 2007, involves Wal-Mart giving its stores and land to a real estate investment trust, which it then pays rent to. REITs pay no corporate taxes if they pay out most of their income to shareholders.
Another Wal-Mart subsidiary owns the REIT and gets the income. The rent is then deducted on state income taxes as a business expense. Read the rest of this story ... Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Wednesday, April 23 | 7 comments | Permalink
“The power of Wal-Mart and their leadership in the private sector for sustainability is, in my opinion, the single greatest factor in the changing mindset of business in the global environmental movement.”
What has happened to Fayetteville is that the city has historically depended on the sales tax for its well-being. This past year, the city’s sales tax collections took a dive---because of more retail development in nearby Rogers and Bentonville, Arkansas---the birthplace of the Wal-Mart empire.
Read the rest of this story ... Posted by Al Norman on Wednesday, April 16 | 0 comments | Permalink
Wal-Mart says it won’t build in Forsyth [The Atlanta Journal-Constitution]
Duluth, GA. Wal-Mart Won’t Build
Wal-Mart Won’t Build In Duluth [CBS 46 (Ga.)]
Duluth, GA. Wal-Mart Concedes Fight
Wal-Mart won’t build Duluth Supercenter [Atlanta Journal-Constitution]
Duluth, GA. Wal-Mart Pulls Out of 56th Location
The proposed Wal-Mart in Duluth, Georgia is gone---but the landowner battles on. That’s the story in Duluth, where Wal-Mart abruptly pulled out this week after more than a year of wrangling with local residents. On July 1, 2007, Sprawl-Busters received the following email from Georgia: “We found out about this proposal a few days ago and we feel we need to mobilize our community and the surrounding community to do something about the situation quickly.”
Lynn Haven, FL. Gets a New Supercenter and….What Else?
Potential Impact of Wal-Mart [WMBB-13 (Fla.)]
Penitas, TX. Wal-Mart Halts Construction To Reformat Store For Mexican Immigrants?
There is more than meets the eye in this strange story of a halted Wal-Mart construction project five miles from the Mexican border. The tiny “city” of Penitas, Texas has only 1,200 people. It also has 7 Wal-Mart supercenters within 20 miles, including a superstore 8 miles away in Palmhurst, and 10 miles away in Mission, Texas. The idea of another Wal-Mart supercenter for this trade area is, as the locals might say, loco. So it’s somewhat suspicious that Wal-Mart---right in the middle of building its new supercenter in Penitas---stopped work. The Monitor newspaper called it a ‘”halt in construction…only months from completion.”
Colorado Lawmakers Take Aim at Wal-Mart’s Tax Strategies
Wal-Mart has avoided paying thousands of dollars in state taxes over the years by paying rent to itself in a process known as “captive REITs.” After the Wall Street Journal exposed the practice last year, several states have revised their tax code to prevent large corporations from exploiting the hole. Colorado is now the latest state to move to close the controversial loophole, with legislation pending that would force corporations to pay their full share of taxes. “Captive REITs” and Wal-Mart’s other tax avoidance strategies are discussed in the latest issue of Wal-Mart Watch In Depth: “The Great Tax Dodge. Click the image at right to download the full document.
Fayetteville, AR. Planning Commission Bites the Wal-Mart Hand That Feeds It
“When people think of Fayetteville, Arkansas,” says Mayor Dan Coody, “they think of quality of life.” They also think of Wal-Mart. Not only is the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville the home for Wal-Mart’s Annual Shareholder’s Meeting in Bud Walton Arena every June, this city of 68,000 people is also home, since 1992, to the Walton Arts Center. Fayetteville, perhaps second only to Bentonville, Arkansas, has the DNA of the Walton Family everywhere. Mayor Coody admits this. In his 2008 State of the City address, the Mayor referred to Fayetteville’s “essential building blocks.” “The cornerstone is Fayetteville’s proximity to Wal-Mart,” Coody said.
Fayetteville is a city of paradox. It has two, sprawling Wal-Mart supercenters, one Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market, and a total of ten Wal-Mart stores with twenty miles. Yet the city boasts of being recognized as a national leader for cities its size in the movement for a cleaner, more efficient, more sustainable community, has hired a “Sustainability Coordinator,” and economically wants to diversify its tax base and secure what the Mayor calls “the coming green collar, clean tech economy.”
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