New South Norman Walmart

[venture]

Well this has been talked about for how many years now? They finally submitted a request to change zoning along - Cedar Lane Road - for it. This starts to really explain why Cedar Lane is getting expanded to the extent it is.

Norman Transcript : Another brick in the Wal-Mart

Another brick in the Wal-MartBy Joy Hampton
Posted: 07/20/2014 12:44 AM

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Norman could soon have five Wal-Mart stores, including three supercenters and two neighborhood markets. A proposal for the newest supercenter will come before the Norman City Council at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday via a request for a zoning change on Cedar Lane Road between 24th Avenue Southeast and Highway 77 which is also Classen Boulevard.


There is no construction date slated at this point.


“We’ve been working on it for quite a while, but I don’t know when it’s going to happen,” said Tom McCaleb, president of SMC Consulting Engineers, the firm doing the engineering for the project.


If approved, this will be the second southside proposal for a Wal-Mart store in recent months.


Wal-MartRealty recently applied for a building permit for a commercial foundation for a Neighborhood Wal-Mart Market at 2551 Classen Blvd. on the former site of the Sooner Mobile Home Park just north of Highway 9.


Zoning changes were approved in December that allowed a planned unit development with mixed use to include multi-family student housing and the Neighborhood Wal-mart.


If the current proposal is approved, that would put the new supercenter just over a mile from the Neighborhood Wal-Mart under construction on Classen Boulevard and only three and a half miles from the existing eastside Wal-Martat 601 12th Avenue NE.


“They’ve said all along that the eastside Wal-Mart was too small,” McCaleb said.


The existing eastside store is 152,720 square feet and sits on 20.8 acres, according to Cleveland County Assessor records.


The new store is a proposed 200,000-plus square feet super Wal-Mart on about 30 acres.


McCaleb said there is no indication the current eastside store at 12th Avenue and Main Street will close.


“They’ve been looking for a site in south Norman for months,” McCaleb said. “This is not a hasty decision.”


Attorney Blaine Nice represented the applicant before the planning commission which supported the zoning change request in an unanimous vote on June 12. City staff also supports the zoning change.


If approved by the city council, the proposed commercial addition at the southeast corner of Highway 77 and Cedar Lane Road will add the supercenter Wal-Mart with a gas station along with four seller retained commercial out lots to serve the burgeoning development in the area. It’s the common Wal-Mart site plan and closely resembles a new Wal-Mart supercenter in Edmond on Interstate 35.


With housing additions, apartments and duplexes springing up in southeast Norman, Wal-Mart won’t have to look far for a customer base. The store would also be convenient for Noble residents.


Residential development has exploded in south Norman. Single-family neighborhoods to the north of the proposed site include Southlake Addition, St. James Park Addition, and Cedar Lake Estates. Two apartment complexes, Renaissance and Chapel Ridge are also in the area. To the east are two more apartment complexes, The Links and The Greens at Norman.


There are also several new commercial developments north and west of this proposal, along the east and west sides of Classen Boulevard, south of State Highway 9, according to city staff reports.


Directly south, the land is vacant. There are no proposals or preliminary plats under consideration for development in that area, according to staff reports.


Further west, across the railroad tracks there are numerous single-family developments, some existing and some proposed, including the Eagle Cliff Addition, the Eagle Cliff South Addition, the Cedar Lane Addition, the Monterey Addition, and Independence Valley.


Two student based apartments, The Grove and The Avenue, are located on the east side of 12th Avenue S.E., north and west of this development proposal.


The expansion and improvements to Classen Boulevard, the future expansion of East Cedar Lane Road and signalization at the corner of Classen Boulevard and East Cedar Lane Road are making way for continued development in the area, city staff told the planning commission.


On Tuesday, the city council will also consider a zoning change request by Eagle Cliff, L.P. for about 7.34 acres at the southwest corner of Cedar Lane Road and 12th Avenue S.E. The applicant wants to develop the site as 18 duplex lots.


The duplex proposal is about 1,000 feet north of the existing Eagle Cliff Park. The application appeared before the Board of Parks on June 5 and a fee-in-lieu of parkland was approved, according to staff reports.


Joy Hampton
366-3544
jhampton@
normantranscript.com

[Plutonic Panda]

Waaaaaaaay too many Walmarts here now. Possible three new ones in Edmond... Another one in mustang... Two SAMs.. And now another one in Norman :/

[venture]

Waaaaaaaay too many Walmarts here now. Possible three new ones in Edmond... Another one in mustang... Two SAMs.. And now another one in Norman :/

This will be #6 for Norman now. This is just insane...



There is no reason for a Supercenter to be going in right nearby the new Neighborhood Market. Then you have the existing east side supercenter, while it has been rumored on here to become a Sam's at some point, they simply don't need this new site. The only thing I can think of is this is an easy way for them to pull from Noble and the Norman "suburbs" if you will that are to the south and east.

[kevinpate]

It's only insane for them if their market share doesn't grow.
As that is really, really unlikely, for Wally world, it is a great move.

For some grocers and others in the community ... ouch.
Some people love to hate on the W, but the bottom line is W has far more fans than detractors.

[zacelliott]

I live at the Greens over on 24th. Part of me is excited, and the other part (by that I mean my wife) is upset. I mean if Cedar Lane is expanded that's great, and if the main entrance is off 77 this won't be too bad for us, but you have to have a stoplight for a Wal-Mart, and they aren't going to put two stoplights so close to each other, making me think the entrance will be off Cedar Lane. I do think it's silly to have it so close to the neighborhood market, but I understand why they want to put it here, especially for Noble, this will be huge for them.

[bombermwc]

You said it Venture, Noble. They've got access to lots of cheap land there, and it's close enough to pull from the surrounding areas.

Hey its walmart, they spend more researching new store sites than a lot of companies earn in a year.

[zacelliott]

I posted this link on the normanok subreddit and also on FB and have been getting pretty mixed reactions, the general consensus is confusion at the proximity to the Neighborhood Market, but also concerns that property values will drop near the new store. Valid complaints i'd say, but not enough that the city will decline the permit IMO.

[zacelliott]

Oh and also on the Norman Transcript FB pages. There is maybe one positive comment out of 30+. A lot of comments have mentioned local business killers, but let's be honest here with Norman, local businesses have already survived with having 2 SuperCenters in town. If local businesses were going to die, they would have already done so. The people that shop at local businesses will continue to do so, and those that shop at Wal-Mart will continue to do so, I don't see the clientelle changing much. The only community I see this impacting is Noble, with the possibility of some of their businesses closing due to proximity to the new store (Super C-Mart may not survive long)

[soonerliberal]

Not trying to justify Norman becoming Walmartland, but it seems like a good business move. Norman and Noble are growing in that direction. There could be a pull as far east as Pink as well

Now for the two Walmarts being a mile apart. I have a feeling the Neighborhood Market may be targeted at all the college students living in the several large apartment complexes along Classen and in east Norman. The college crowd does go to Walmart, but not for anything that is not available at the Neighborhood Market. It's not like students are parading around in Walmart t-shirts and jeans, but they do get food and cleaning supplies from there.

[zacelliott]

I agree that the Neighborhood Market will be a hotspot for those complexes, but what about the Ave and the other complex there on 12th (The name escapes me)? Those are adding tons of new people and they're gonna be just down the road from the SuperCenter. Honestly I think it'll be backwards of what you describe, I think more college kids will go to the SuperCenter because it's close, and the Neighborhood Market will be more for local families on the SE side. I'll frequent both since both are on my way home, but I think the majority will go to the SuperCenter.

[bombermwc]

I think it depends on what youre after. If i dont need to go to a walmart and can just go to a market, heck i'm gonna avoid the supercenter at all costs.

[zacelliott]

My wife will still probably go to Crest or Target for our groceries since they have everything for that, but I tend to frequent the SuperCenters more. Like the other day I needed a shelf, a prescription, and teriyaki sauce, and it was nice to go to one place and get all of it, but if I need to get a loaf of bread or something i'll probably stop at the Neighborhood Market on my way home from work and skip the SuperCenter.

[Soonerman]

Wal-Mart proposal off tonight?s Norman City Council agenda » New and Developing » The Norman Transcript

[Video Expert]

Wal-Mart proposal off tonight?s Norman City Council agenda » New and Developing » The Norman Transcript

Anybody have any insight that can confirm what the Mayor of Moore has said about the Norman Sam's Club closing when the new Sam's in Moore opens?? Here's the excerpt from the Transcript article linked by Soonerman...

"Moore Mayor Glenn Lewis announced today at the Moore Chamber Luncheon that Moore’s Sam’s Club could open as soon as April. Lewis said when the Sam’s Club in Moore opens, he has been told that Norman’s Sam’s Club will close. Lewis told the Transcript that Sam’s owns the land in Moore but does not own the land in Norman. Records indicate Lewis has been misinformed on the land ownership issue.
According to the Cleveland County Assessor’s records, Sam’s Real Estate Business Trust located in Bentonville, Ark. does own the property at 3400 W. Main St. in Norman where the Sam’s Club is located."

[zacelliott]

Anybody have any insight that can confirm what the Mayor of Moore has said about the Norman Sam's Club closing when the new Sam's in Moore opens?? Here's the excerpt from the Transcript article linked by Soonerman...

"Moore Mayor Glenn Lewis announced today at the Moore Chamber Luncheon that Moore’s Sam’s Club could open as soon as April. Lewis said when the Sam’s Club in Moore opens, he has been told that Norman’s Sam’s Club will close. Lewis told the Transcript that Sam’s owns the land in Moore but does not own the land in Norman. Records indicate Lewis has been misinformed on the land ownership issue.
According to the Cleveland County Assessor’s records, Sam’s Real Estate Business Trust located in Bentonville, Ark. does own the property at 3400 W. Main St. in Norman where the Sam’s Club is located."

I worked at Sam's Club in Norman for about a year, and I can't imagine it would ever close. It's super busy and services a lot of communities to the south. I can't imagine they would close it and make everyone go to Moore. Both places will be profitable and there's no reason to close Norman.

[kevinpate]

Pure speculation on my part. But I don't think Mayor Lewis could moore wrong if he tried.

[Questor]

Heres another update. Sounds like the council was pretty hacked off at city staff over not being informed the development was a Wal-Mart.

Interestingly they also unanimously voted against a new apartment complex that staff and planning were both recommending approval for. Perhaps they've finally realized what a joke those organizations are. Or maybe noticed some of the political fallout from the controversial west side vote last year.

Norman Transcript : City leaders say ?yes? to Wal-Mart supercenter postponement

[venture]

Just more on the backlash from the developer not disclosing it was Walmart until after getting approval to go to council for the zoning change. The big thing that is pretty shocking is that city staff (read the planning people not elected officials) all knew what was going on, but the mayor was never told? Something doesn't smell right with the way this is being handled.

Council will meet on August 12th to discuss the zoning change and I would expect a large turnout of voters demanding the zoning change be denied and kill the project or force them to move locations. Some of the council members are pretty in tune with how things could play out. If this takes off it could cause Buy For Less and other stores to close in East Norman, which doesn't have the immediate ability to recover like the west side locations near I-35. This could very well cause blight issues a couple neighborhoods if those companies go out of business.

Officials say transparency lacking in Wal-Mart zoning » Headlines » The Norman Transcript

[zacelliott]

Won't the neighborhood Market kill Buy4Less before the SuperCenter would? I'd be more concerned about it. Also South Norman residents want more options, but not a Wal-Mart. But who's to say after the backlash of voters other companies won't just overlook developing because they think we don't want it? The "Not in my Backyard" is strong with this one.

[kevinpate]

I had a bigger problem with the neighborhood market than I do the proposed S-center south of 9. And even that problem was simply feeling bad for those long standing residents booted from the closed park, where some of the trailers had been located even longer than the 28 years I've now been located here.

There is a reason folks hate that they love Wally world. If they'd just go ahead and name it wallet world, it'd be spot on. One can overpay at wally world, as they can at other places, but you ahve to work at it a tad more than many places.

[Jersey Boss]

There are more than enough WalMarts in town w/o the proposed SC. The town does not need another employer that bases their benefit package on being able to access the social service safety net. This SC would cause more traffic problems than Riverwind and I-35 on a friday night. I for one have told my councilman to deny the zoning change.

[Jersey Boss]

I had a bigger problem with the neighborhood market than I do the proposed S-center south of 9. And even that problem was simply feeling bad for those long standing residents booted from the closed park, where some of the trailers had been located even longer than the 28 years I've now been located here.

There is a reason folks hate that they love Wally world. If they'd just go ahead and name it wallet world, it'd be spot on. One can overpay at wally world, as they can at other places, but you ahve to work at it a tad more than many places.

The displacement of these folks along with the deforestation of that area is shameful.

[Jersey Boss]

Walmart's Ice Cream Sandwiches Don't Melt In The Sun

Last we checked, ice cream is supposed to melt if it isn't kept chilled.

But Walmart's store-brand ice cream sandwiches don't even melt in the sun, according to a report from WCPO Cincinnati.

The discovery was made by a local mom, Christie Watson, who noticed that a Great Value ice cream sandwich her son left out on their patio table hadn't fully melted -- even though it had been sitting out for 12 hours on an 80-degree day. Watson left a second ice cream sandwich out overnight with the same results, WCPO reports.

"What am I feeding to my children?" she asked, appalled.

“Ice cream melts based on the ingredients, including cream," Walmart spokeswoman Danit Marquardt said in an email. "Ice cream with more cream will generally melt at a slower rate, which is the case with our Great Value ice cream sandwiches."

But as Business Insider reports, the product also contains a number of additives:

According to Wal-Mart's website, the ice cream sandwiches contain milk, cream, buttermilk, sugar, whey, and corn syrup.

It also contains "1 percent or less of mono-and diglycerides, vanilla extract, guar gum, calcium sulfate, carob bean gum, cellulose gum, carrageenan, artificial flavor, and annatto for color."

WCPO conducted an experiment of their own, leaving out a third Walmart sandwich alongside a Klondike bar and a pint of Haagen Dazs ice cream. The Haagen Dazs ice cream -- which contains only cream, milk, sugar, eggs and vanilla, and no gums -- melted fastest. The Klondike bar melted, too.

"The Walmart sandwich, though it melted a bit, remained the most solid in appearance, and still looked like a sandwich," the station reported.

One word: EW.

[Bullbear]

EEKS!.. that is disturbing. I don't shop at wal-mart however I am sure there are other brands with the same result. Gross.

[kevinpate]

if non-melting ice cream is disturbing to someone, that person ought to give all fast/convenience food a very wide berth. Some of it makes twinkies look like slackers.