Document text
60 °F Forecast | Road Cams Tuesday, April 19, 2005 Today's News | Shop Our Valley | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery | Contact Us SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Health Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Real Estate Guide Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley SHOP OUR VALLEY AutoFinder HomeFinder JobFinder Classified Place an ad TOP JOBS EXTRA Ashland News NIE Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People Volunteer Moving here? eSouthernOregon CUSTOMER SERVICE FAQ's Advertise with us Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend April 19, 2005 If approved, the 203,091-square-foot Supercenter would be located in this field between Highway 62 and Hannon Road. This view is looking toward Ray�s Food Place from Hannon Road. Mail Tribune / Jim Craven Wal-Mart looks to Eagle Point The retailer submits an application for a 203,091-square-foot Supercenter By GREG STILES Mail Tribune EAGLE POINT — Wal-Mart’s bid to put Supercenters in Central Point and Medford the past two years has drawn plenty of opposition. Now the world’s largest corporation hopes for a friendlier reception here in one of the state’s fastest-growing communities. Wal-Mart representatives last week submitted an application to the city of Eagle Point for a 203,091-square-foot Supercenter in the 25-acre Eagle Point Business Park site between Highway 62 and Hannon Road. "We’re looking at the existing customer base and the future customer base," Wal-Mart spokesman Pete Kanelos said Monday. "If people have to stand in line longer than they should at one of our existing stores, it’s a pretty good indication we need to build an additional store to meet our customers’ needs. That’s probably the most basic reason we’re going into Eagle Point." The store would employ more than 400 people with more than 70 percent of the jobs full time. Kanelos declined to reveal projected revenue or payroll figures. Eagle Point City Administrator Dave Hussell said Wal-Mart representatives brought in several boxes of material related to the application. Advertisement "As you might suspect, we’re just starting to go into everything," Hussell said. Eagle Point, by law, has 30 days to process the application and determine whether it is complete and meets necessary standards. Hussell said if everything is in order, the proposal would be placed on the city Planning Commission’s June 21 docket. The building is designed with a Northwest flavor, with exposed beams and stonework. "It doesn’t look like the Crater Lake Wal-Mart," Hussell said. The city administrator said the Supercenter is an allowed use in the business park, but because of its size, a conditional use permit is needed. He said the city has changed its zoning in that area so that a major retailer would be among the permitted uses. Kanelos said Wal-Mart hopes to break ground on the Eagle Point store in 2007 and open it in 2008. He said it has no impact on either of the company’s pending Supercenters in Central Point and Medford. Both of those proposed stores have been tied up in appeals with the state Land Use Board of Appeals. "Our prices are 17 to 20 percent lower than our competitors," Kanelos said. "If people shop Wal-Mart, there is an obvious benefit. If they don’t, odds are our competitors will drop prices as well. Even if they drop prices by 5 percent, consumers benefit." He said the perception that Americans are increasingly anti-Wal-Mart flies in the face of 100 million cash register sales and that 84 percent of the nation’s households made at least one purchase there last year. Hussell said Eagle Point hasn’t necessarily pursued Wal-Mart, but has attempted to make itself a feasible location for a major retailer. Eagle Point, with a population nearing 7,500, has long been a bedroom community for greater Medford. Hussell said 85 percent of Eagle Point’s residents work and shop elsewhere, clogging Highway 62 and adding to air pollution. "We have to drive to go get a nail in Eagle Point," he said. A quarter of a century ago, when the city first established a comprehensive plan, Hussell said there was a desire to create social and economic opportunity in the upper Rogue region. "We have never been able to achieve that," he said. "However, with the growth that has occurred in the past half-dozen years, all of that residential growth has created (opportunity)." Grocery giant Albertsons was on the verge of locating a store in Eagle Point six years ago. More recently, Northwest employee-owned Bi-Mart, whose attempts to move into White City have been rejected by the Oregon Department of Transportation, talked with Eagle Point officials. "But this is the first application we’ve received," Hussell said, adding later: "We are now trying to actively encourage opportunities for economic expansion here in town. The application for a Wal-Mart type of business is part of our overall game plan. It could have been Fred Meyer, Home Depot or any big retail kind of business ... but Wal-Mart was the one who applied." Reach reporter Greg Stiles at 776-4463 or e-mail [email protected] . Reporter Sanne Specht contributed to this story. Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback Free Music Downloads Conference Calls - $50/Month Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker, Trunk, Footlockers home equity loans helzberg Distance Education Diamonds Online Poker Slippers Student Loans tcg student loan consolidation teleconferencing Memory Foam Mattress w2 forms Tatoo Tatoos Advertisement s