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Wal-Mart leaving Talent By Sean Wolfe Ashland Daily Tidings City officials in Talent were caught off-guard by new statements from representatives of Wal-Mart that have clarified the company's intentions for its 90,000-square-foot operation there. Rumors about the ultimate fate of the Talent-based Wal-Mart have been swirling throughout the city and surrounding communities for months, particularly in light of the world's largest retailer's $14 million acquisition in April of a baseball field near Medford. According to Amy Hill, a spokesperson for the retailer, the upshot is that Wal-Mart is prepared to sell the Talent facility, and transfer its operations to Miles Field. "The official word is that we will relocate the Talent store to a new location at Miles Field in Jackson County, and that will become a Wal-Mart supercenter," Hill said. The supercenter format would combine a full service grocery with the 36 other general merchandise departments Wal-Marts typically feature. "It's the epitome of one-stop shopping," Hill said, affirming that the new store would likely compete with other grocery/retail combinations like Fred Meyer, as well as other stores like Sherm's Thunderbird Market, Bi-Mart, and even Blackbird. Hill said Wal-Mart didn't intend to lay off any personnel at the Talent location. The store at Miles Field will likely take 9 to 12 months to construct, and Hill estimated the opening of the new superstore would "likely happen sometime in 2004." Talent City Manager Betty Wheeler expressed some reservations about the move. "First, I'm disappointed that Wal-Mart didn't choose to inform the city directly about the departure. I think it will have an impact on the city. That store was here, it served the community well, and it brings people into the community. � It was also a large taxpayer in the community," Wheeler said "It's unfortunate to see them leave. It's a fairly large store, and I don't know what would fill that space there. I am happy to hear that they aren't planning layoffs. It's unfortunate they'll have to travel further, but at least it's not that far." The fate of the existing Talent store remains uncertain. According to Hill, the city's "big box" legislation has made it difficult to find prospective tenants. "Our understanding is that the city has done several things that may make it difficult for us to find a new retail user. They have adopted some new zoning designations, and as I understand it that store is now a non-conforming use," Hill said. "As for the real estate, we currently own that building and it is in our best interest to find a new user for that. Leaving a store sitting empty does us no good, because then we have that non-revenue producing liability on our books." Talent City Planner Kevin Cronin said he had been approached by a developer acting on Wal-Mart's behalf, and that discussions took place on a variety of options for the existing store. "We were basically talking about the same things - could they do an addition without having to do more parking, could they establish a grocery outlet - those kinds of things," Cronin said. Cronin denied that the existing Wal-Mart was a non-conforming use. "I feel there's a lot of flexibility with that site. There's no impediment, whatsoever. It's really about whether Wal-Mart or another major investor wants to come into the community and do the right thing," Cronin said. Cronin added that he remained hopeful about the location finding some use, but noted that market conditions weren't helping. "It would free up a lot of retail space in Talent. I would hope that if the market can improve a little bit, we could have somebody with enough interest and capital to make use of that store and redevelop it." LINKS: DAILY TIDINGS: Main | News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Opinion | Columnists | AP News | Subscribe | Archives | Weather | Classifieds | Contact Us | Privacy REVELS: Main | Calendar | Dining | Movies | T.V. OTHER: Road Cams Copyright 2003 Ashland Daily Tidings 541.482.3456. 1661 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland, OR 97520. Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. - Advertisers -