Walmart construction to begin by years' end

Local News

October 31, 2011

By Joe Olenick Lockport Union-Sun & Journal The Lockport Union-Sun %26 Journal Mon Oct 31, 2011, 06:02 PM EDT

TOWN OF LOCKPORT — Work is expected to begin on the Town of Lockport’s Walmart Supercenter by the end of the year, according to what town officials were told last week.

Supervisor Marc R. Smith relayed the information to Town Board members at Monday afternoon’s work session meeting. The well known discount retailer’s public relations office spoke with Smith last week.

“We received word from Walmart that they are looking at starting site work no later than the end of December,” Smith said. “That would be water, sewer, electric and gas connections.”

However while additional details weren’t shared by Walmart with town officials, they should be available soon in the next few weeks, Smith said. The original timeline called for completion of the Walmart supercenter by November 2012.

Walmart bought the former Lockport Mall site in a deal that closed Dec. 23 of 2010. The retailer bought the South Transit property for $3.95 million from General Growth Properties of Chicago. General Growth will remain the landlord for the Bon-Ton department store, and will own the properties that house the First Niagara, Arby’s and Wendy’s locations in front of the property.

The exterior of the Bon-Ton, which was the last surviving tenant of the mall, has been remodeled. Once attached to the mall, the Bon-Ton was separated as the remaining 310,000 square feet was torn down.

Lockport’s 185,209 square-foot center will replace the current Walmart, located less than half a mile south of the mall on South Transit Road. There are about 200 people working at the current Walmart.

The supercenter project, originally introduced in 2004 and then submitted in a revised form in February 2007, has taken some time to reach this point. The Lockport Mall closed in 2005.

In November 2007, the town Planning Board approved a series of waivers for Walmart, as well as its site plan and a special use permit.

But Smart Growth, the group of local opponents of the supercenter are known as, sued the town over the waivers. The contention was that the planning board broke state zoning law by giving the waivers to Walmart illegally. The lawsuit was dismissed in state Supreme Court in April 2008, which was upheld in its Appellate Division, 4th Department level in June 2009.

Before the clock started ticking on the waivers, permit and site plan, the town planning board passed a resolution that allowed the time period before expiration to start once all litigation was complete.

In February 2010 the state Court of Appeals denied Smart Growth’s appeal, the final legal hurdle for the Walmart project.

That was until General Growth filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and emerged in November 2010. The agreement filed with the county clerk’s office was signed by General Growth on Nov. 19 and then by Walmart on Dec. 21. Demolition of the mall started in April.

A new tenant for the current Walmart store can’t begin until Walmart has moved out, town officials have said. Walmart did not respond to a request for comment.

Contact reporter Joe Olenick at 439-9222, ext. 6241.

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