According to Good Jobs First and The Wall Street Journal, a large chunk of sales tax revenue gets redirected to retailers like Wal-Mart, a company that pockets an estimated $70 million a year in sales tax revenues.
At least that is the finding of a report released today by Good Jobs First, a nonprofit research group here in Washington:
Most of us don’t realize that in a majority of states with a sales tax, a portion of the money actually goes into the pocket of the retailer under programs set up by state and local governments. In this first-ever comprehensive national analysis of the subject, Good Jobs First finds that the public sector is losing more than $1 billion a year through these sales-tax diversions. A large share of revenue gets redirected to giant retailers such as Wal-Mart, a company we estimate pockets more than $70 million a year in sales tax revenues.
The state laws discussed in the report allow retailers to keep a portion of sales-tax revenue to offset the cost of collecting the funds in the first place, a reasonable enough excuse (especially since state governments are so flush with cash at the present). But does anyone really, and I mean REALLY, believe that Wal-Mart spends $60 million a year collecting sales tax? In this age of computer everything and electronic money transfers, I have a hard time believing it costs more than a fraction of that.
As it stands, many states have calculated a vendor compensation rate, which can be applied to a percentage of sales tax revenue to determine how much a retailer gets to keep for its trouble. As the WSJ reports, Good Jobs First has identified 13 states that impose no ceiling on the total amount retailers can keep. In states such as Illinois, Texas, Pennsylvania and Colorado that vendor compensation rate can be applied to the full amount of sales tax a company collects, resulting in substantial returns for companies like Wal-Mart. Good Jobs First has estimated the givebacks in these states - Illinois ($126 million), Texas ($90 million), Pennsylvania ($72 million), and Colorado ($69 million). Jesse Drucker at the WSJ kindly puts some perspective on those numbers - for example, the $90 million Texas gives away by not capping vendor compensation would cover the $82 million price-tag needed to fund that state’s primary pre-kindergarten program.
For what its worth, the Illinois Revenue Department was quoted as saying the state has tried to cap the compensation program, but relentless lobbying by the retail industry has so far kept legislators from making changes.
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Posted by Corey Himrod | Permalink
Check out this week’s issue of the Wal-Mart Watch Weekly Update for Elected Officials – a compilation of Wal-Mart news from across the country and beyond.
This week’s issue centers on a new website launched by Wal-Mart Watch which details the retailer’s political contributions, positions on specific legislation, and spending on lobbyists and industry trade groups. The website, Walton Influence, also includes similar information on the Walton family and the family’s related enterprises.
In addition, you’ll read about a number of legal issues, the most important of which could be affecting the health of millions of Americans. Bloomberg News and the San Francisco Chronicle, among others, are reporting on how tests of several of the best-selling brands of bottled water (including Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club private label brands) have been found to contain mixtures of at least 38 different pollutants, including bacteria, fertilizer, and industrial chemicals. These findings could result in a lawsuit against the retail giant.
And finally, check out our “Stateside” and “Wal-Mart International” sections to find out what’s going on with Wal-Mart around the country and across the globe. You’ll read about how Maryland’s closing of certain corporate tax loopholes has resulted in millions of dollars in increased state funds, and why employees in Illinois are protesting Wal-Mart’s electioneering activities.
Wal-Mart Watch Weekly Update for Elected Officials [October 16, 2008]
Posted by Corey Himrod | Permalink
Nike Inc., the world’s largest athletic shoemaker, has sued Wal-Mart for allegedly selling footwear that infringes one of its patented designs. Or so says the footwear giant, who filed a patent infringement suit against the retail giant on Monday in federal district court in Illinois.
The case revolves around two of Nike’s designs, both having been patented back in late 2004. As you can see by photos included in Nike’s complaint, Wal-Mart’s shoe looks like a pretty spot-on match, at least design-wise. Kudos to Wal-Mart’s apparel design team - if your own products aren’t selling, why not copy those that do? And who wouldn’t want a shoe with pogo springs right in the heel?! I couldn’t find the offending models online, although most of Wal-Mart’s own athletic shoes appear to retail for between $10-25...I would guess the original Nike version sells for just a little bit more. Several Nike models, in fact, use the copied design and generally retail for $90 and above. You can draw your own conclusions, though my guess is that these two shoes are similar on face value only - it wouldn’t surprise me if for $15, Wal-Mart’s springs were filled with marshmallow or tiny foam peanuts.
The retail mega-chain has faced a couple of infringement suits already this year - recently by Pepe Jeans, and prior to that by Adidas, which settled its case with Wal-Mart in September. You can read more about those two instances here, here, and here.
Read Nike’s complaint here.
Nike sues Wal-Mart, alleges patent infringement [Rueters]
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Posted by Corey Himrod | Permalink
Check out this week’s issue of the Wal-Mart Watch Weekly Update for Elected Officials – a compilation of Wal-Mart news from across the country and beyond.
This week’s issue begins with reports of price gouging on the part of Wal-Mart. What’s truly abhorrent about these reports, however, is that they are being made by the very people affected most by the recent cavalcade of hurricanes to batter the Gulf coast. The Arkansas News Bureau and The Consumerist have more on these stories.
You’ll also find major news on the legal front. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has filed its second lawsuit against Wal-Mart in less than three weeks. The first involves the Americans with Disabilities Act in Illinois; the second involves age discrimination against a 67-year-old optician in Missouri. In addition to the EEOC lawsuits, Wal-Mart will now have to face another class action wage/hour lawsuit. Salvas v. Wal-Mart was originally certified as a class action back in 2004. Since then the case has gone back and forth through the Massachusetts court system, eventually being decertified and winding up in front of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court on appeal. Well, the SJC released its opinion this week, ruling that the decertification was improper and that the lawsuit should be reinstated as a class action. A trial is possible, which could cost Wal-Mart hundreds of millions of dollars in unpaid wages and damages. The Boston Globe and Boston Herald have the story.
Also check out the Product and Food Safety Report, where you’ll find stories on BPA (and a class action lawsuit regarding the chemical that includes Wal-Mart), dangerous soccer goals and baby cribs sold at Wal-Mart, and a pet food recall involving Purina products sold at the retailer.
And finally, check out our “Stateside” and “Wal-Mart International” sections to find out what’s going on with Wal-Mart around the country and across the globe.
Wal-Mart Watch Weekly Update for Elected Officials [September 24, 2008]
Posted by Corey Himrod | Permalink
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has filed suit in U.S. District Court in Illinois for violating employment provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The suit was brought yesterday on behalf of Barbara Hacker, a Wal-Mart greeter who suffers from epilepsy. Click here for a copy of the complaint.
The EEOC is the federal enforcing agency for the employment provisions of the ADA, and this is NOT the Commission’s first run-in with Wal-Mart. In fact, Wal-Mart’s history with the EEOC is littered with lawsuits, settlements, and broken promises to eliminate barriers for applicants and employees with disabilities. A report by Human Rights Watch found that between 1992 (when the ADA went in to effect) and 2002, sixteen suits had been filed by the Commission against Wal-Mart for violating Title I of the ADA, the most filed against any single corporation. Several more cases have been filed since then, two of which were settled earlier this year. (For more info on these, click here and here.)
As for Barbara Hacker, she informed her supervisors when she was hired about her epilepsy. She asked for nothing more than the reasonable accommodation of being allowed to sit for a couple minutes in a quiet place while she recovered from seizures. For a time she was accommodated, but ultimately she was fired after having a seizure in a back room off the sales floor at the Rockford Wal-Mart. According to EEOC attorney Aaron Decamp:
[T]he lawsuit was filed after Hacker filed a complaint with the EEOC in late 2006, after she was fired. EEOC investigators determined the claim had merit, and attorneys tried to reach a settlement with Wal-Mart before the suit was filed.
It should be noted that being the top lawsuit target of the ADA enforcement agency is probably not a good thing. Resources do not allow the EEOC to prosecute every case, which is why the Commission uses “strategic and vigorous” litigation as an enforcement tool.
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission files suit against Wal-Mart [Rockford Register Star]
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Posted by Corey Himrod | Permalink
The town of Granite City, Illinois, takes great pride in putting people first. Now its residents are putting people before corporations by rallying against a proposed measure that would allow Wal-Mart to expand.
Recently, the Granite City Planning and Zoning Commission granted Wal-Mart’s request to rezone agricultural land for commercial use. Now, the world’s largest corporation will take the measure to the City Council on August 19th. If it passes, Wal-Mart will be allowed to expand its current store on to agricultural land. To add insult to injury, Granite City taxpayers will help subsidize Wal-Mart’s expansion because the project is located in a Tax Increment Financing District.
Wal-Mart hurts communities in many different ways. One Collinsville, Illinois resident wrote to the Press-Record, saying:
“We had a nice, quiet little store before the supercenter took over. Many, many life-time associates—I am talking 20 plus years—have been cut to part time… We are tired and our spirit is broken, don’t do this to your town. Glen Carbon said no, you can too!”
Granite City’s local businesses will feel the brunt of the expansion, as Wal-Mart edges in on their market share. Citizen action group Granite City First explains Wal-Mart would not provide increased sales tax revenue for the town, but rather would simply transfer existing sales away from local businesses. This is hardly compatible with Granite City’s plan for a revitalized downtown.
Granite City does not need unchecked growth; it needs sustainable development. Help make sure Wal-Mart isn’t allowed to super-size its store in Granite City. Use our simple email tool to write a letter to Mayor Hagnauer and the Granite City Council and tell them to stand up to Wal-Mart:
http://action.walmartwatch.com/granitecity
Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton once wrote, “If a community does not want us there, we will go somewhere else.” On May 8, Granite City First delivered 3,000 letters to City Hall from community members protesting Wal-Mart’s expansion. There can be no clearer sign of a community’s opposition. In communities across America, residents have stood up to Wal-Mart and won. Now it’s Granite City’s turn.
Posted by Media Team | Permalink
Granite City First to present documentary on Wal-Mart [Granite City Press-Record (Ill.)]
A group of Granite City residents are screening a documentary on the effects of Wal-Mart this week.
Granite City First, a group of business leaders, labor leaders and church congregations concerned about the expansion of the current Wal-Mart into a Wal-Mart Super Center, which will include a grocery store, will present documentarian Robert Greenwald’s film “Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price.”
It will show at the United Steelworkers Local 1063 hall, located at 1414 20th St. in Granite City, on Thursday at 6 p.m.According to Greenwald’s Web site, the film “dives into the deeply personal stories and everyday lives of families and communities struggling to fight a Goliath.” It presents testimonies of small business people and an employee of Wal-Mart.
“Our concern that the Super Center will bring in underpaid workers with limited benefits,” said Granite City First member Ken Aud said.
Aud said the workers at the new Super Center will be in competition with employees of companies like Shop-N-Save and Schnucks, who provide their workers with more generous benefits. He also said Wal-Mart drives small business away from downtown.
Posted by Joel Nezianya | Permalink
Lawsuit, economic downturn leave South Alpine Wal-Mart up in the air [BusinessRockford.com (Ill.)]
Construction of the city’s fourth Wal-Mart Supercenter on South Alpine Road has been delayed for more than a year because of litigation — and its future remains in doubt.
Rockford aldermen approved Wal-Mart’s venture into the South Alpine area in April 2006, and construction was set to start later that fall. The proposal was first announced in 2005.
But before any earth had been moved, ADY of Illinois Inc. sued Wal-Mart, the city of Rockford and the developer on April 27, 2007, according to court records.
The lawsuit was dismissed late last month, said John Elias, attorney for Peoria-based developer Waldschmidt Development Corp.
“We didn’t think the case had merit when it was filed, and we still don’t think it has any merit,” Elias said.
ADY of Illinois Inc. and the organization’s attorney, Wheaton-based Mark Daniel, could not be reached for comment. The two sides will be back in court July 16 because an appeal of the ruling may be filed.
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Posted by Joel Nezianya | Permalink
Wal-Mart - the retailer you love to hate [South Town Star (Ill.)]
“Save money. Live better.”
That’s the slogan for Wal-Mart, the largest retailer in the world, which grossed $374.5 billion in sales last year.
But all Alberta Overocker sees from her Tinley Park back yard is a massive box of concrete proposed to replace the sprawling green and goldish sod farm just outside her gate.
“I understand progress has to be made,” Overocker, 73, said as she looked toward 83 acres slated for the retail giant. “I just don’t think a Wal-Mart is the answer.”
From Overocker’s back yard, vehicles buzzing up and down 191st Street and Harlem look like Matchbox cars. A Target and several restaurants in the Brookside Marketplace shopping center across 191st Street are small but visible. Progress is happening. Now Wal-Mart wants to bring it even closer to Overocker’s door.
Chicago-based Aetna Development wants to transform the southwest corner of busy 191st Street and Harlem Avenue into a 24-hour Wal-Mart Supercenter and more than a dozen other stores and restaurants, to be called Prairie View Crossings. Tinley Park has yet to approve the controversial project that has prompted a group of residents in the Brookside Glen subdivision to hire an attorney. But meetings continue as Aetna and Wal-Mart representatives revise their 370,000-square-foot plans to make residents and Tinley Park officials happy.
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Posted by Joel Nezianya | Permalink
In Godfrey, a small town on the Illinois side of the St. Louis metro area, concerned residents are fighting hard to prevent Wal-Mart from building on two tributaries that eventually end up in the Mississippi River.
The proposed store at Godfrey and Airport Roads, on the site of an well-known asparagus farm, would bring a huge amount of parking lot runoff and point source water pollution, tainting on-site tributaries of Rocky Fork Creek. Rocky Fork Creek flows directly into Warren Levis Lake and later the Mississippi River, all of which are complex and sensitive ecosystems and invaluable recreation areas.
Independent analysis has confirmed the fragility of the local environment. Many types of mature trees, shrubs, and native grasses exist along lengthy stretches of Rocky Fork Creek. Downstream of the proposed development exist an abundance of pollution intolerant macroinvertebrate communities, as well as larger species like crayfish, big mouth shiners, bluegill, and box turtles- which would be adversely affected as well.
We all know Wal-Mart’s environmental record. The company has been repeatedly fined by both federal and state agencies for water and air pollution. But what we know is that no matter how much fine monies are collected down the road, it won’t compensate for permanent damage to the Mississippi River and the Godfrey area.
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Posted by Eric Bull | Permalink
Village board approves new Wal-Mart [The Courier News (Ill.)]
Wal-Mart is coming to town.
The village board voted unanimously Monday night for the special use permits and variations which would allow the retailer to build a 186,000-square-foot super store on 27.5 acres off Huntley Road just north of Spring Hill Mall.
While residents have attended several public hearings and a special board committee of the whole meeting to protest the store and its location, there is little the village could do to prevent the retailer from locating here, said board member Norm Osth.
In fact, he said, West Dundee is getting a better building than the one originally proposed by the big-box retailer, and is the right thing for the village.
“If we said no, the reality is that Wal-Mart could and would apply for and would be issued building permits that comply with our current (zoning) codes,” Osth said in a prepared statement. “Should the permits be denied, the probable results would be a lawsuit that West Dundee would undoubtably lose.”
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Posted by Joel Nezianya | Permalink
In West Dundee, IL, a small town in the Chicago metro area, a raging site fight appears close to over. After several heated local hearings where the Wal-Mart opposition overwhelmed the support, Village Board President Larry Keller has said that “next week is decision week.”
Earlier this week Al Norman did a great job profiling this site fight and running down some of the zoning concerns the locals have.
In short, local homeowners were blindsided in 2000 when the village informed them that a large tract of land near their homes would be rezoned from residential to commerical to make more retail space. Residents immediately mobilized against a proposed Miejer store there, and are fighting even harder now against a Wal-Mart plan.
The reasons to oppose a new Wal-Mart in West Dundee are overwhelming. It would bring increased traffic, noise, light and water pollution to the area, and further endanger the nearby Spring Hill Mall. Also, the opening of a West Dundee Wal-Mart would most likely mean that the East Dundee Wal-Mart, only several miles away, would close down and become an ugly waste of space. This is on top of a laundry list of problems with the company - including a business model which routinely discriminates against its employees and has driven thousands of Midwestern manufacturing jobs out of the area to replace them low wage, low benefit retail jobs.
But a local resident might have said it most succinctly in the Daily Herald:
“It is not something that will enhance our community,” said West Dundee resident Ariana Fontana, one of about 25 people who spoke Monday night. “Don’t take what you can get. The village can do better and residents deserve better.”
TAKE ACTION NOW
Village Board President Larry Keller has openly welcomed comments on the Wal-Mart issue, so let’s make sure the board gets a few more before it makes its decision next week. If you live in the area, send an email now to the entire Village Board and let them know Wal-Mart is a bad fit for West Dundee.
Posted by Eric Bull | Permalink
Wal-Mart Supercenter has opposition in West Dundee
Concerned about traffic, noise pollution and around-the-clock traffic, West Dundee homeowners planned to rally Monday night against plans for a big-box store slated for an undeveloped 31-acre site near Spring Hill Mall.
“We just don’t think that a Wal-Mart Supercenter is a right fit,” said Lisa Geisler, 41, spokeswoman for Dundee Neighbors, a grass-roots coalition formed two months ago in the Tartans Glen subdivision. “There’s really no need for it in our community.”
Anticipating a large crowd, the Village Board moved its 7 p.m. public comment session to the fire station at 555 S. 8th St.
Annexed by the village along with the nascent Spring Hill Mall three decades ago, the site at Huntley Road and Elm Avenue has long provided a buffer between the shopping center and the 205-home subdivision.
The property is tucked in next to a park with ball fields, tennis courts and a playground, and it has become a battleground over efforts to extend West Dundee’s retail footprint.
In April, the village notified adjacent homeowners that the Wal-Mart proposal was going before the zoning and planning commission. Residents mobilized quickly, hiring an attorney. Last month, the commission voted to recommend the proposal.
In 2000, the village rezoned the site from residential to commercial to accommodate a proposed Meijer store, despite objections from residents. The Michigan-based retailer subsequently pulled out, but the door to retail development was firmly wedged open.
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Posted by Tony Calero | Permalink
Letter: Let Wal-Mart come to West Dundee [Daily Herald (Ill.)]
To West Dundee residents who oppose a new Wal-Mart: Your Spring Hill Fashion Corner is a ghost town. Your sister village to the east is losing businesses left and right. New retail is not exactly flocking to our communities east of Randall Road. You should prostrate yourselves and beg Wal-Mart to come your way. I am baffled at your concern about an increase in crime rate. Are you imagining shoppers so elated over a great deal on soap that they might run naked through your streets shouting with joy? Please, spare those of us who are biting our nails at the imminent departure of the East Dundee store.
To Wal-Mart: Come to Carpentersville. We may be a little crazy, but we like your everyday low prices, and we’ll welcome you with open arms. We promise to keep our clothes on.
Posted by Tony Calero | Permalink
Tinley Park homeowners hire attorney in Wal-Mart dispute [South Town Star (Ill.)]
Two residents of a Tinley Park subdivision that might become neighbors with a retail center anchored by a Wal-Mart store have hired an attorney who specializes in land use and zoning issues.
Attorney Jason Tunquist said Thursday was his first day on the job, and he attended a Tinley Park Plan Commission meeting, where another attorney presented revised plans for a 24-hour Wal-Mart Supercenter at the southwest corner of 191st Street and Harlem Avenue.
It’s not clear who Tunquist’s clients are. But Jennifer Vargas, who lives in the Brookside Glen subdivision and whose home would back up to the Wal-Mart, said several residents are unhappy about the reduced buffer zone between the proposed store and the homes and the several entrances and exits proposed for the shopping center.
“If Lane Bryant wasn’t a lesson to Tinley Park, what’s going to be?” Vargas asked, referring to the Feb. 2 murders of five women at the women’s clothing store in a mall across the street from the proposed Wal-Mart.
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Posted by Tony Calero | Permalink
Wal-Mart opponents speak up in W. Dundee [Daily Herald (Ill.)]
A group opposing the proposed Wal-Mart SuperCenter in West Dundee may be taking on the world’s largest retailer, but members are making sure their voices are heard.
At every opportunity, members of Dundee Neighbors—a coalition of more than 500 local residents—are showing up and vocalizing their opposition to the proposed 186,000 square foot retail center at the corner of Huntley Road and Elm Avenue.
At least 25 people attended the village’s Appearance Review Commission meeting Tuesday for Wal-Mart’s final presentation regarding landscaping, elevation, signage and lighting site plans.
The commission ensures developers meet appearance requirements laid out in the village’s code.
The village’s planning and zoning commission last week approved variances to allow Wal-Mart to increase the height of its parking lot lights to 42 feet and to install larger but fewer landscaped islands in the parking lot.
Though the group does not oppose Wal-Mart on principle, or dispute the zoning of the property, group members say the sheer size of the development is worrisome.
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Posted by Tony Calero | Permalink
West Dundee panel gives Wal-Mart OK [The Courier News (Ill.)]
The planning and zoning commission has forwarded to the village board mostly positive recommendations in Wal-Mart’s controversial bid to build a 186,000-square-foot superstore in the village.
In a packed Randall Oaks Country Club, the commission late Tuesday gave a favorable recommendation to Wal-Mart for all but one request—a variance that would allow the retailer to have two 100-square-foot monument signs at the Huntley Road store. Village guidelines only allow for up to 40-square-foot monument signs.
The meeting was a continuation of a public hearing held May 12. After five hours of presentations from Wal-Mart and concerned residents that night, the commissioners recessed the deliberation portion of the meeting to Tuesday night.
Before deliberations began, however, commissioners reopened the public hearing to consider information from Wal-Mart regarding traffic counts on Tartans Drive. The commissioners had asked for the additional data, citing residents’ concerns of additional traffic attempting to use Tartans Drive to cut through from Illinois 72 to Huntley Road.
According to the study, “The data analysis shows there is very little cut-through traffic under the existing configurations,” said Wal-Mart attorney Rob Gamrin.
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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt | Permalink
IEPA hears both sides of Wal-Mart water issues [The Telegraph (Ill.)]
Attorneys on both sides of a Clean Water Act permit for Wal-Mart Stores Inc. pulled no punches in front of a state agency.
The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency held a public hearing Wednesday night to hear comments and testimony about a Section 401 water quality certification permit that would allow a proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter to cover portions of two unnamed tributaries and mitigate its impact.
Environmental experts hired by Alton attorney Deborah Greider, working in conjunction with attorney Penni Livingston of Livingston Law Firm in Fairview Heights, disputed claims made by similarly qualified experts hired by Wal-Mart. Greider represents a citizens group, Sustainable Godfrey, opposed to a proposed Supercenter on the former Joehl’s Alfalfa Queen Farm property at Godfrey and Airport roads.
Senior environmental scientist Thixton Miller, of HDR Engineering Inc. in Springfield, conducted macroinvertebrate sampling May 20 from six sites along Rocky Fork Creek and the two unnamed tributaries in question. Miller said the samples overall showed the downstream waters abundant with life. Citizens are concerned storm water runoff and pollutants from an impervious parking lot will permanently and adversely affect water quality.
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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt | Permalink
Wal-Mart hearing plan draws criticism [The Telegraph (Ill.)]
Several residents say they are upset with the timeframe in which they have to prepare for an environmental hearing on a planned Wal-Mart Supercenter.
Alton attorney Deborah Greider of the Law Offices of Thomas E. Kennedy III represents a citizens’ group called Sustainable Godfrey, made up of about 50 people protesting the Wal-Mart Supercenter planned for the former Joehl Alfalfa Queen Farm property.
The hearing is being held by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency to get input needed to determine whether the agency will issue a Section 401 development permit under the Clean Water Act. Greider says the hearing itself is helpful, but the agency failed to give people enough time and enough public documents to prepare arguments against the permit.
The hearing is at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Lewis and Clark Community College’s Advanced Technology Center, Room 141, 5800 Godfrey Road.
Greider is working in conjunction with Penny Livingston, an environmental attorney, and other volunteers and environmentalists.
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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt | Permalink
Developer will move Wal-Mart farther from homes [Southtown Star (Ill.)]
A developer who wants to build a Wal-Mart Supercenter in Tinley Park has altered its plan, moving the store to the center of its 83-acre property, much to the delight of village trustees.
But trustees did not vote Tuesday night on the controversial project, sending the revised plan back to the village’s plan commission, which recently rejected the earlier plan.
“The moving of the building was (needed) from Day 1,” said Trustee Greg Hannon, liaison to the plan commission. “We said this is not going to fly because of the (store’s) proximity to homes.”
Hannon was referring to the developer’s previous plan that had the Wal-Mart in the southwest section of the site, within a few hundred feet of single-family homes.
Chicago-based Aetna Development wants to build a 370,000-square-foot retail center anchored by a 24-hour Wal-Mart at the southwest corner of 191st Street and Harlem Avenue. The project, Prairie View Crossings, would include 18 outlots fronting 191st Street and Harlem Avenue. Some areas of the property could remain vacant.
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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt | Permalink
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