Tuesday, August 6, 2013
Center Grove Walmart coming soon!
A new Walmart store in the Center Grove area has been approved, and you could see construction start as soon as this week.
Work on a parking lot and drainage pond for the new superstore could begin this week, and the company expects the new 152,434-square-foot store to open in September 2014. The store, which will sell groceries and feature a deli and a garden center, will be located on State Road 135, south of Smith Valley Road, near Home Depot.
The project already has gotten approvals from the city technical review committee and plan commission for its drainage plans. Greenwood’s board of public works and safety approved Walmart’s plans for drainage, parking and sewer lines Monday. That approval was the final one the company needed before starting construction.
Work on a parking lot and a drainage pond could begin this week, city engineer Mark Richards said.
And road work meant to improve traffic flow around the new store likely will begin next year.
The plan commission rejected two Walmart store proposals about 10 years ago that would have required annexing land and rezoning property in a neighboring subdivision from residential to commercial. The current site is where the retailer had planned a larger store in 2004.
This time, the land already was zoned for commercial development, and, even though residents raised concerns, the city could not turn down the store because it is an appropriate use for the property.
One of the top concerns residents raised was the impact on traffic, especially at the intersection of Smith Valley Road and State Road 135 that motorists said already is congested.
As part of building the new store, Walmart agreed to pay for road upgrades on the west side of State Road 135 and the south side of Smith Valley Road. The city wants Walmart to pay for a new median on Smith Valley Road, west of State Road 135, which is meant to stop left turns into nearby stores and home driveways, and to add a right-turn lane at the intersection.
The road work, meant to reduce traffic backups at the intersection, is estimated to cost about $150,000, Richards said. Walmart will pay the city to oversee the road work.
Construction likely won’t start until early next year because the city has to get bids from contractors. The city could hire a contractor by mid-October, but construction likely wouldn’t start then due to weather.
The city plans to finish the road work before the new Walmart opens in September 2014, he said.
Walmart next needs to apply for building permits from the city and can set a date to start construction on the building within the next month or so, said Dan Kuester, a civil design consultant for Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Construction. The new store would be third Walmart in Johnson County.
The company still has to submit final building plans to the city and get the needed permits before building the actual store, Richards said. Walmart can submit plans and request building permits at any time, he said.
Wondering what's gonna happen to the old Marsh on US 31?
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Thousands of vehicles pass a former grocery store in Greenwood every day, but right now all drivers see is a window patched with plywood and semitrailers parked in the lot.
But by spring, the agent marketing a former grocery store building near U.S. 31 and Smith Valley Road wants to have a new business in the building and develop two new spaces for banks or restaurants near the highway.
The building has been vacant for about a year after a Marsh grocery store closed — one of its three Indiana stores shut down last year.
In 2012, Greenwood officials were contacted by companies considering the building for an auto body shop or indoor golf facility. Walmart also considered moving in but decided to build a new store off State Road 135 instead, according to Doug Thompson, one of the building’s owners.
Ryan Zickler of Zickler Associates is marketing the property and received about 15 inquiries about the building in the past month. He plans to target types of stores that Greenwood doesn’t already have, such as a premium grocery store chain like Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s.
The 31,000-square-foot building is currently the largest vacant retail property in Greenwood, city planning and zoning director Ed Ferguson said. With the way the property is zoned, just about any retail or service business could use the site, he said.
About 38,000 vehicles pass by each day, and about the same amount of traffic travels by Greenwood Park Mall and the stores and shops around it, according to state traffic counts.
The building owner, investment company Black Diamond 880 LLC, waited to market the building because Walmart was considering the site, Thompson said. Allen Commercial Group worked with Walmart to find a new location in Greenwood late last year, Thompson said.
But the retailer instead decided to head west to the Center Grove area, where its plans to build a new store next door to Home Depot near State Road 135 and Smith Valley Road recently were approved. Walmart will open a 152,434-square-foot store at the site, which is about five times the size of the former Marsh building.
Once Walmart decided on another location, the building’s owners started looking for a new real estate firm to market the building. Over the past year, interest in the building has been low. City and local development officials initially heard about ideas for an auto body shop, indoor golf center or call center, but none has been officially proposed.
Zickler has created a list of companies that he plans to contact, instead of just waiting to see who calls him.
“We’re going to go after those users and occupants until they give us a good reason of no,” he said.
He also plans to develop two new lots on the property along U.S. 31, which could become sites for fast-food restaurants, banks or auto shops. Those smaller lots could get a high amount of interest due to the amount of traffic along U.S. 31 and Smith Valley Road, Zickler said.
Zickler said his schedule to have the site occupied by spring is aggressive. Retailers typically don’t make real estate decisions until the beginning of the year, he said. But he wants to contact companies before the holiday shopping season.
The vacant building needs work and detracts from other businesses in the highly traveled area, Johnson County Development Corp. Chief Executive Officer Cheryl Morphew and Greenwood Mayor Mark Myers said.
“The community is stuck with it. It would be ideal to backfill and bring it to life again,” Morphew said. “That’s a really busy intersection.”
Myers said he would like to see a sit-down restaurant as opposed to fast food, or a unique, niche retailer instead of a dollar store.
“I would really like to contact (the developer) and really go to more quality than low-end retail stores. We don’t want to be a discount row type place,” he said.
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