Wal-Mart wants tenants for old store

Willing to lease portions of building

Saturday, July 28, 2007

By JOHN R. PULLIAM

The Register-Mail

GALESBURG - Now that the excitement of the new Wal-Mart Supercenter opening has died down somewhat, the next question is what will happen to the city's original Wal-Mart building at 2031 National Blvd.

Wal-Mart spokesman Dan Fogleman said Wal-Mart will try to recruit a local broker in the marketing of the building, which Wal-Mart does not own.

According to city assessor Darrell Lovell, the building is owned by USF and G Fidelity Retails Associates LLP. At this time, Wal-Mart owns the 26 acres where its Supercenter is located at 659 Knox Square Drive.

"We do have a term left on the lease," Fogleman said of the National Boulevard building. "It's in our best interest (to find tenants) so we're not paying for something we're not using."

The Wal-Mart Realty Web site also noted reuse is important to Wal-Mart's success, as well as to that of the community.

"Wal-Mart has a large interest in reducing this property inventory, as it spends significant amounts each year to maintain unused stores," according to the Web site. "Wal-Mart also recognizes that for communities to accept new or expanded Wal-Mart stores, it must be successful in finding new uses for its former properties."

Although the building is listed as being for lease, Wal-Mart, in effect, will sublease the property. A list on one of the Wal-Mart Web sites shows a number of locations sold or subleased in 2005 and 2006, although the site apparently has not been updated recently.

Fogleman said because Wal-Mart does not own the building, the company will work in conjunction with the owner as it attempts to recruit new tenants.

The 105,627-square-foot building is listed on the Wal-Mart Realty Web site.

"Once we determine we're going to move out of a building into a new Supercenter, we begin the process of trying to market the building," Fogleman said. "We have a long history of success in that arena."

Colliers International - Turley Martin Tucker - and Vernick and Associates also have the building listed on Web sites, along with the marketing package, which includes a map of that area of town, with many of the businesses labeled and demographic information available.

The map lists 19,400 cars daily as passing by the front of the store on Henderson Street, although it is labeled on the map as National Boulevard, the frontage road that is parallel to Henderson Street. The map also shows that 9,400 cars pass on Carl Sandburg Drive, located on the north side of the former location.

Fogleman said the location of the old store should help in its marketing.

"The reason we moved to a Supercenter is because we were so successful at that location," Fogleman said. "From our vantage point, we try to get an understanding with the community as to what is the best use for the facility going forward. It's in our best interest to fill that building as soon as possible."

The Web site marketing information says Wal-Mart is willing to lease as little as 20,000-square-foot portions of the building. Fogleman said Wal-Mart has a design team that helps new tenants using only a portion of the building figure out how best to reconfigure it for their uses.

In Ottumwa, Iowa, two stores fill almost all of the store left behind at the Quincy Place Mall when Wal-Mart moved into a Supercenter there about two years ago. In Macomb, Dollar General, JCPenney and Goody's occupy the location used before the move to the Supercenter. According to the Web site, other reuses range from a fitness center in Georgetown, Ky., a Mercedes Benz dealership in Pompano Beach, Fla. and a church in Miami, Okla.

More traditional retail uses include everything from Old Navy, Kohl's, Tractor Supply Co., Hobby Lobby, Books-A-Million and Best Buy to Toy-R-Us, Burlington Coat Factory and Lifeway Christian Book Store.

Fogleman said from working with local government officials, the building owner and a local broker, Wal-Mart sees the effort as a key "to continuing economic growth in the community. ... We have a very long history of working with business owners to try to get suitable tenants in there."