Super Wal-Mart to arrive
By Thomas Wilson
STAR STAFF
twilson@starhq.com
Super Wal-Mart is coming.
After years of speculation, a site plan submitted
to the city of Elizabethton planning department indicates
that the buy-for-less behemoth has plans to build a Supercenter
on the North American Corporation property.
"As most people know, the planning commission
has been working with super Wal-Mart representatives for some
time," said Haynes Elliott, executive director of the Economic
Development Commission.
"It appears Wal-Mart has settled on a site. We
are meeting with their representatives in the near future
to hopefully work out the site preparation."
City of Elizabethton director of planning and
development, David Ornduff, said Tuesday that the Knoxville-based
firm Certified Properties had submitted a site plan to develop
the 22.69-acre tract where the North American Corporation
building stands. The building was effectively destroyed by
a massive fire that occurred on Feb. 26, 2000.
The site plan submitted to the city plans for
a building covering 205,000 square feet. Parking lot space
would have to meet zoning regulations governing a commercial
property development of that type.
Telephone calls to Certified Properties based
in Knoxville were not immediately returned.
Ornduff said the site plan did not include the
property tract where the North American power house building
stands.
How a pending decision regarding a lawsuit filed
by the city against NAC could effect the development is uncertain.
Attorneys representing the city of Elizabethton
filed a lawsuit against the NAC, North American Fibers, and
Charles K. Green, individually and as "alter ego" for the
companies. The city's suit requested the defendants be held
responsible for the cost of a new section of sewer line installed
by the city after a landfill was built over the existing line
on NAF property.
The amount of the suit is more than $1 million
and covers the cost of the design and construction of the
new sewer line as well as interest for yearly maintenance.
Lawyers for both sides filed post-trial briefs
on Jan. 10 to sum up their arguments in the case and to provide
information on similar trials to aid the Chancellor in his
decision.
Ornduff declined to comment on issues pertaining
to the pending decision, but he did say the city would weigh
the development's benefits to the community rather than legalities.
"This would be a project that would stand on
its own," he said. "We would evaluate how it would meet the
needs of the community and our role to look out for the health,
safety, and welfare of the city."
The primary attorney representing the city in
that case, Charlton DeVault, did not immediately return a
phone call seeking comment. Green also did not immediately
return a phone call seeking comment.
The northern connector highway corridor is projected
to extend along the north side of the Watauga River opposite
of the North American property.
A representative of Wal-Mart Store, Inc., headquarters
in Bentonville, Ark. referred questions to Daphne Moore with
the company's regional office in Alabama. Moore was not available
to discuss the site plan.
According to the company's Web site, Wal-Mart
planned an aggressive unit growth for the 2004 fiscal year
beginning Feb. 1, 2003. Domestically, the Wal-Mart division
plans to open approximately 45 to 55 new discount stores and
200 to 210 new Supercenters.
As of Aug. 31, 2002, the company had 1,603 Wal-Mart
stores, 1,179 Supercenters, 517 Sam's Clubs and 36 Neighborhood
Markets in the United States.
