At an ungodly hour this morning (2:38 a.m.), a member of the new but active "Stop Walmart Spanish Village" Facebook group posted the lease, signed back in November, giving the Arkansas-based retail giant rights to the northwest corner of Coit and Arapaho roads for at least 20 and as many as 70 years.
This, as we noted yesterday, has been met with chagrin by many neighbors who dislike the idea of a sprawling big box opening next door.
Walmart might take issue with the term "sprawling." Company spokesperson Daniel Morales got back to us today via email and noted that, at 90,000 square feet, the location will be half the size of a typical supercenter. And there's little, outside of civil disobedience, that can be done to stop the store. The property is already zoned for commercial uses, meaning it won't get reviewed by the Dallas City Council.
That said, the company has scheduled a meeting next week with council member Sandy Greyson and plans to "use feedback from that meeting to determine how best to address neighborhood concerns," Morales wrote. In other words, Walmart may be willing to make some tweaks here and there, but the chances are exactly nil that the company will simply scrap its plans and walk away.
There's no firm construction timeline yet, but the company "would like to begin serving customers at this location in fall 2014," Morales writes. "Walmart is confident that this store can be part of the solution for folks who need a job or want more affordable options close to where they live or work."
