Wal-Mart confirms it won't build Santa Rosa store
Mixed reaction as retailer drops plan for 106,000-square-foot facility in Roseland
A Wal-Mart has been proposed for the 100,000 square foot site of the old Rite Aid and House2Home on Sebastopol Road at Stony Point in Santa Rosa.
PD FILE, 2004Published: Wednesday, February 25, 2009 at 4:03 a.m.
Last Modified: Wednesday, February 25, 2009 at 4:03 a.m.
Wal-Mart confirmed Tuesday that it has abandoned plans for its Santa Rosa store, a move hailed by those who sued to block the project and lamented by those who thought it would have been a much needed economic boost for the city.
"We have made the difficult decision to stop our plans for a new store in southwest Santa Rosa," spokesman Kevin Loscotoff said. "Unfortunately, due to the economics of the project, as well as delays, we're simply no longer able to move forward."
The Bentonville, Ark., company spent nearly five years and hundreds of thousands of dollars planning a new store on the long-vacant site of Santa Rosa's first big-box store -- the Home Base home improvement store.
Wal-Mart wanted to demolish the former Home Base building and build a 106,000-square-foot store on the site, next door to the existing FoodMaxx.
The retailer was welcomed by many members of the Roseland community for the 300 jobs it would bring, the inexpensive items it sells, and the estimated $500,000 per year in sales tax it would generate for the city.
"If you ask the people of southwest Santa Rosa, they will tell you unequivocally that they want Wal-Mart in there," said Terry Hilton, head of the local business group the South and West Area Business Association.
Hilton feared the loss of tax revenue would be a major blow to a city already facing massive budget cuts.
But the group that opposed the environmental review of the project noted that many of the alleged benefits are illusory.
Marlene Dehlinger, director of the Accountable Development Coalition, said her group opposed the project because the company pays low wages, has a poor record on health benefits and forces taxpayers to make up the difference in services.
The idea that the store would create new jobs ignores the probability that it would have put smaller retailers in the region out of business, she said.
"Certainly there are opportunities for folks, but it's talking away a lot of opportunities from other people," Dehlinger said. The same is true of the estimate of $500,000 in new taxes, she said. Much of that revenue would simply be shifted from other retailers to Wal-Mart, she said.
Santa Rosa is by no means alone. The project was dropped after a companywide review of its many pending construction projects. Those reviews resulted in several other projects being canceled as well, Loscotoff said.
Wal-Mart has outperformed most of the retail sector during the recession. Its focus on low-cost items has struck a chord with shoppers facing increasingly tight times.
In its fourth quarter report, the company said it was lowering its capital spending in 2009 by as much as a billion dollars.
While many in Roseland were in favor of the store, there was significant concern by neighbors over traffic and noise.
Even some businesses located next to the proposed Wal-Mart were lukewarm to the plan despite the thousands of shoppers it was predicted to lure.
Jennie Christian, co-owner of dress shop Nina Bonita, said her landlord had already raised rents in anticipation of the project.
And Mayra Orozco, an employee at the Metro PCS celluar telephone store, said many merchants were concerned about parking.
"They're thinking that (customers) wouldn't be able to find parking and they would just go to another place," Orozco said.
Loscotoff did not detail the economic reasons behind the decision. Sonoma County has two other Wal-Marts, in Windsor and Rohnert Park.
He said the delays were related to the litigation over the company's EIR.
He also said that the company's decision was unrelated to the change in the political make-up of the Santa Rosa City Council in the fall elections.
But Hilton said he has no doubt that the anti-big-box posture of some new council members made the company see it was in for an uphill battle.
"They're looking at the new City Council and they know it's going to be hard to move," Hilton said.
You can reach Staff Writer Kevin McCallum at 521-5207 or kevin.mccallum@pressdemocrat.com.
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