August 23, 2003

Wal-Mart buying land

       Wal-Mart plans to build its second supercenter in Johnson County on White River Township land along State Road 135.  In the next few weeks, the Arkansas-based company will file plans with county government to rezone 30 acres at the northeast corner of Olive Branch Road and State Road 135 for a free-standing Wal-Mart Supercenter, said Caroline Bisio, real estate manager for Wal-Mart stores in Indiana, Illinois and southwestern Ohio.  The property is currently farmland located behind a funeral home and north of the cemetery.  County hearings will be followed by a series of neighborhood meetings to address residents’ concerns and show them what the store will look like and the company’s plans to handle the ever-increasing traffic in the area.  “We want to make sure neighbors know that we want to work with them,” Bisio said.  The 200,000-square-foot store will be a $20 million investment for the company. Tentative plans call for construction to begin in mid-2004 and the store to open in spring 2005, Bisio said.  “This is a unique community, and it requires a unique store,” Bisio said.  The store will employ about 500 people, and 70 percent of them will be full-time workers.  The store will not be part of a larger strip mall, Bisio said, but will have space for one commercial business, such as a shop or restaurant, in the parking lot area.  The new Wal-Mart will not look like other supercenters in Indiana, Bisio said.  “It’s not going to be the typical blue-gray Wal-Mart,” Bisio said.  “It’s going to be unique, I promise you that.”  Wal-Mart is aiming for a high-end store that blends with other developments in its design and appearance, Bisio said.  Sketches won’t be released until company officials meet with area residents.  Officials recently met to share information with planners from the Johnson County Planning and Zoning Department. Their concerns were primarily focused on additional traffic problems the new store would create.  “They’re concerned with traffic, and rightfully so,” Bisio said.  The company will conduct a traffic study to make sure they are anticipating the appropriate roadway improvements. Currently, the company anticipates adding turn lanes and necessary roads off Olive Branch and S.R. 135, Bisio said.  Currently, Wal-Mart has not planned to request annexation into Greenwood city limits, although the store will use Greenwood utilities, Bisio said.  Wal-Mart recently announced plans for a supercenter in Beech Grove, at Interstate 465 and Emerson Avenue. Although that project is a little further along, Bisio expects the two to be built and opened on the same timetable.  The two stores will be the first in Indiana to have a drive-through pharmacy and enclosed garden center, Bisio said.  The new White River Township store should ease traffic and shopper congestion at the store on U.S. 31 in Southport, Bisio said.  “The sites may be six miles from each other, but it’s a tough six miles to get to the Southport store,” she said.  Johnson County’s other Wal-Mart is located in Franklin.  Earlier this year, the company explored building a store on 14 acres along State Road 37. Those plans were nixed in March because of concerns about the expansion of S.R. 37 for the Interstate-69     (reprinted with permission from the Daily Journal)

  

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