Published January
2004
New
Wal-Mart? Speculation brews
By
Eric Fetters
Herald Business Writer
A Seattle-based development
firm that has represented Wal-Mart on other projects has applied to build
a large retail store along Highway 99 in south Everett, stoking rumors
that Wal-Mart is coming to the neighborhood.
A land-use application
filed with the city of Everett calls for a new 146,000-square-foot store
along the west side of the highway, between 112th Street SW and Center
Road. Two smaller retail structures also are proposed at the site.
If the application
is approved, construction on the large store would begin in spring. The
size listed for the store is nearly identical to the Wal-Mart built in
Quil Ceda Village, on the Tulalip Reservation west of Marysville.
The application,
which calls for dividing more than 21 acres of land into four separate
retail parcels, doesn’t mention Wal-Mart by name. But the applicant, PacLand,
has represented Wal-Mart projects before, including in the Puget Sound
area.
Since last spring,
residents and business owners along Highway 99 in south Everett have heard
rumors that Wal-Mart was moving into the neighborhood. One businessman
said he’d seen detailed plans for the new store.
The speculation brewed
after an interested buyer put down earnest money with several different
property owners.
Dave Nelson of Towne
or Country Real Estate said he expects the sale of the property to be
completed in 2004, although he’s bound by a confidentiality agreement
from talking further about the transaction.
Amy Hill, a spokeswoman
for Wal-Mart Stores Inc., didn’t confirm any plans for a store along Highway
99.
“There’s nothing
to talk about in Everett at this point,” Hill said.
A representative
with PacLand in Seattle could not be reached for comment.
Much of the acreage
being considered for the retail project is vacant or undeveloped, with
the exception of an older mobile home park. John Peehl, owner of Mr. 99
& Associates commercial real estate firm, said he has heard that the land’s
buyer may offer compensation to residents of that park.
Peehl, who previously
tried to interest Wal-Mart in building along Highway 99, is touting the
coming store in his marketing of nearby properties.
Wal-Mart’s only other
stores in Snohomish County are at the Quil Ceda Village location and on
164th Street SW in Lynnwood. But reports about the retailer’s interest
in other local sites circulate regularly.
Duane Bowman, development
services director for the city of Edmonds, said in a meeting in November
that Wal-Mart reportedly had looked at the former Kmart shopping center
in that city during 2002, but decided against building a store there.
An undeveloped retail site along 132nd Street SE east of Mill Creek also
has been mentioned as a possible candidate for a Wal-Mart outlet.
Meanwhile, the company
has started adding more than 70,000 square feet to its Quil Ceda store.
Once the addition is finished this year, it will become the first Wal-Mart
Supercenter, offering a full selection of groceries, in the Seattle-Tacoma
-Everett area.
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