Waukesha, WI. New Wal-Mart Supercenter Will Create Another Dead Wal-Mart
The state of Wisconsin has seven dead Wal-Mart buildings on the market, and number 8 is well on its way. Sprawl-Busters reported in a February 19,
2008 Newsflash that Waukesha, Wisconsin officials have been planning for a new Wal-Mart supercenter near Highway 59. But rumors started to circulate in the press that the supercenter project might be dead—another victim of Wal-Mart’s cutback in superstore growth plans. In the summer of 2007, Wal-Mart announced that it was proposing a new supercenter to open in the summer of 2009. This obviously meant that their existing discount store near Highway 164 would close. Wal-Mart never said the superstore project was in peril, but would only say that they were still negotiating with Heartland Development Group of Milwaukee. Waukesha Mayor Larry Nelson tried to prepare his constituents for the worst. “I wouldn’t say the project is dead,” the Mayor told Greater Milwaukee Today. “I would say it’s in flux.” The Mayor said he hoped to know more within a couple of weeks. “I’m still hopeful it can be worked out.” The Mayor has been hopeful for the past ten months. This week, he got to announce that the project was, in fact, moving forward again. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported yesterday that Wal-Mart has purchased 32 acres of land on Highway 59 on the site of the old Cretex concrete plant. Some residents might consider a dead concrete plant better than a new Wal-Mart supercenter, but the retailer is claiming the new store will bring 350 jobs to the area.
Most of these jobs, however, will be transfers from their existing discount store, which will close when the superstore opens. Wal-Mart explained that 40% of the jobs would be part-time, and they said the workers would make $10.91 per hour on average---which is less than the $11.20 per hour that Wal-Mart claims it pays its Wisconsin workers statewide. Mayor Nelson told the Journal that Wal-Mart would create a “stronger retail presence” in the southside of Waukesha---which he says has been ‘somewhat underserved’ by retailers in the past. Nelson said the superstore construction will begin this spring. “All we need to do is have the weather warm up,” the Mayor explained. The reality is, unless the economy warms up first, the new superstore is largely going to take its sales from other merchants in Waukesha, such as Roundy’s, Pick ‘n Save, Jewel, and Sentry. When the snow melts in Waukesha, Mayor Nelson is not going to find any new jobs in the retail sector of his city. All he will have on his hands is an empty Wal-Mart discount store.
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Posted by Al Norman on Friday, December 19 | 0 comments | Permalink
Spooner, WI. Wal-Mart Blames Economy For Withdrawal Of Plans
City officials in Spooner, Wisconsin were spoon-feeding Wal-Mart---but it just wasn’t enough. This week, the giant retailer abruptly withdrew its dream of a supercenter in this small Midwest community. On October 8, 2008, Sprawl-Busters reported that Washburn county officials were scrambling desperately to find some way to lower the cost of the project.
They were willing to lower their tax assessment on the superstore when word came that Wal-Mart had lowered the boom on the entire project. The world’s largest retailer, with net earnings last year of more than $12.7 billion, told town and county officials that it couldn’t afford their Spooner project without a public subsidy. Just as Wal-Mart has demonstrated its ability to muscle its vendors down the price chain, so the retailer seemed to be succeeding with elected officials who wanted to sell them some land. On September 8, 2009, Sprawl-Busters reported that Wal-Mart wanted a financial break from Spooner and from the Washburn, Wisconsin County Board, which owns the land. Wal-Mart asked the county to prevent other public parcels surrounding the proposed superstore from being sold to Wal-Mart competitors for 40 years. Three months ago, county officials told the Washburn County Register that stories about Wal-Mart asking the county and city for $1 million for the project just weren’t true. Wal-Mart had waged an on-and-off campaign to build a 153,000 s.f.
superstore in Spooner on 35 acres of county land. This project has been in the works for three years. Last January it was reported by the Register that the Wal-Mart supercenter project in Spooner was in limbo. A Wal-Mart spokesman said the Spooner Supercenter was in a “holding pattern” while the company tried to “manage our growth to insure the long-term success.”
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Posted by Al Norman on Friday, December 19 | 0 comments | Permalink
WISCONSIN SITE FIGHT: WAL-MART TO ALLEGEDLY RECEIVE $1.7 MILLION HANDOUT FROM WASHBURN COUNTY?
http://www.wcregister.net/default.asp?sourceid=&smenu=73&twindow=&mad=&sdetail=5778&wpage=1&skeyword=&sidate=&ccat=&ccatm=&restate=&restatus=&reoption=&retype=&repmin=&repmax=&rebed=&rebath=&subname=&pform=&sc=1142&hn=wcregister&he=.net” title="Board to discuss Wal-Mart reappraisal [Washburn County Register (Wis.)]">Board to discuss Wal-Mart reappraisal [Washburn County Register (Wis.)]
SHELL LAKE – A reappraisal of the proposed Wal-Mart site was discussed at the Washburn County Executive Committee meeting Monday, Dec. 8, in the Elliott Building, Shell Lake.
Wal-Mart has been looking to build a store on CTH H, between Hwys. 53 and 63 on the north end of Spooner, for a few years. The project was given multiple extensions on its developer’s agreement due to various factors, which included a lawsuit (that has since been settled) and infrastructure costs. The latter was the most recent issue, and the county and city of Spooner met with Wal-Mart to discuss ways of lowering the infrastructure costs.
One way suggested was a reappraisal of the land, which was originally set at $900,000. The county board was directed to reappraise the land, and Monday morning, board Chair Micheal Bobin said the new value they had come up with was $820,000.
The committee wondered if they should even forward this to the full board, as none of the members felt the offer should be lowered. Vice Chair Ed Olund said he couldn’t see any reason to change the original appraisal, and Second Vice Chair Don Quinton said that though he was against lowering the offer, he felt this was what the board had expected the county to do, ultimately.
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Posted by Luke West on Thursday, December 11 | 0 comments | Permalink
WISCONSIN SITE FIGHT: CUDAHAY COUNCIL REJECTS WAL-MART
Cudahy rejects Wal-Mart Supercenter proposal [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (Wis.)]
A Wal-Mart Supercenter proposed for Cudahy may be dead after the Common Council voted against approving the framework for the project’s development agreement.
Council members, in a 3-2 vote Tuesday night, rejected a proposed memorandum of understanding between the city and developer Continental Properties Co. The development’s planned anchor was to be a 137,000-square-foot Supercenter, a combined supermarket and discount store.
Approving the memorandum would have led to a more detailed development agreement with Continental, which wants to build the Cudahy Station retail development on 26 acres, south of E. Layton Ave., between S. Nicholson Ave. and Sweet Applewood Lane.
Steve Wagner, Continental’s vice president for retail leasing, declined to say Wednesday whether the project would be dropped.
“The longer it takes for a project like this, the less likely it is to happen,” Wagner said. “We’re evaluating all of our options.”
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Posted by Luke West on Thursday, December 04 | 0 comments | Permalink
WISCONSIN SITE FIGHT: RESIDENTS WARY OF WAL-MART CRIME
Wal-Mart expansion at Bellevue store brings fear of more crime [Green Bay Press-Gazette (Wisc.)]
BELLEVUE — Neighbors of Wal-Mart say crime is a problem in the area and they fear it will increase once the store expands.
The Village Board approved the first steps of a plan to convert the existing Wal-Mart, 2292 Main St., to a Super Center on Wednesday. Previous plans to build a new store in the village, near Brown County GV, were canceled earlier this fall when Wal-Mart decided to hold off on a new store until the economy improves.
Property owners near the store — primarily those on Guns Road — say the store has brought trespassers and traffic to their neighborhood.
“You can build Wal-Mart to look just great, but the point is, there’s still a lot of crime there,” said resident Linda Swan, who lives along Guns Road.
Swan said she had two vehicle break-ins since Wal-Mart has been there and fears if they expand the store, the problems will only get worse.
Because Wal-Mart borders Green Bay, both the Brown County Sheriff’s Department and the Green Bay Police Department respond to police calls.
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Posted by Luke West on Wednesday, November 19 | 0 comments | Permalink
WISCONSIN SITE FIGHT: MORE LAND TO BE REZONED NEAR ALREADY CONTROVERSIAL WAL-MART PROJECT?
Land near Wal-Mart site could be rezoned [My Muskego Now (Wisc.)]
The Muskego Plan Commission has recommended rezoning a 30-acre parcel behind the approved Wal-Mart Supercenter from residential to business park district.
The parcel would be developed with three to five buildings suitable for light industrial use. It would be located east and north of the proposed Wal-Mart site on the east side of Moorland Road south of College Avenue.
The commission vote Nov. 4 was 6-1 with commission member Gerald Hulbert opposed. Hulbert said he voted for the Wal-Mart project earlier this year assuming the land to the east would remain residential as a buffer for residents in the Glenbrook Subdivision.
Project would create jobs
But other commissioners supported the rezoning and the plans presented by Interstate Partners, developers of the project. Mayor John Johnson said with only about 9 percent of the city’s tax base in commercial property, it needs more.
“This project is good for the overall community with its jobs and economic development,” he said.
City Planner Jeff Muenkel said developers estimate the project could bring in 275 to 350 jobs. A residential development on that site would result in about a $5 million increase in the city’s tax base; each of the three proposed buildings would be worth that much.
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Posted by Luke West on Thursday, November 13 | 0 comments | Permalink
WISCONSIN SITE FIGHT: SPOONER SITE TO BE REAPPRAISED
Land at Wal-Mart site to be reappraised [Washburn County Register (Wisc.)]
WASHBURN COUNTY – The Washburn County Executive Committee has approved a reappraisal of the land at the proposed Wal-Mart site in Spooner, after a meeting Wednesday, Oct. 1.
In recent meetings, the county board, city of Spooner, Department of Transportation and Wal-Mart representatives discussed the fact that the infrastructure improvements budget for the project had gone over the original estimate, from about $2 million to over $4 million.
County Board Chair Micheal Bobin said in an interview Monday, Oct. 6, that though there have been rumors circulating that Wal-Mart asked the county and city for $1 million for assistance, this is not the case.
“They did not ask [Spooner and Washburn County] to kick in any money,” Bobin said.
Bobin said that the company had actually asked for assistance in finding ways to lower the improvement costs by $1 million. For example, one proposed site plan had CTH A, off Hwy. 63 – the site is located next to the highway shop on CTH H between Hwys. 63 and 53 – become realigned with CTH H. Bobin said keeping CTH A where it is could be less expensive.
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Posted by Luke West on Thursday, October 09 | 0 comments | Permalink
WISCONSIN SITE FIGHT: TOWN NEGOTIATES WAL-MART SUBSIDY
County will negotiate on?Wal-Mart costs [Spooner Advocate (Wisc.)]
The Washburn County Board voted 18-3 on Tuesday night, Sept. 16, to authorize the Executive Committee to negotiate with the city of Spooner, Wisconsin Department of Transportation (DOT), and Wal-Mart to address the concerns of Wal-Mart that off-site road improvements are $1 million above what the Fortune 100 retailer is willing to spend for a proposed Spooner Super-Center.
On Wednesday, aug. 27, Wal-Mart asked for a meeting of city, county and DOT officials to discuss the cost of off-site road improvements to accommodate a 100,000-square-foot Supercenter on the northwest corner of Cty. Hwy. H and Hwy. 53. Wal-Mart said the $4 million-plus for improvements is $1 million more than the corporation is willing to spend.
Posted by Luke West on Friday, September 26 | 0 comments | Permalink
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