CENTERTON — Population growth, a new high school and a highway widening project all played a role in Walmart’s decision to build a Neighborhood Market in Centerton, according to company officials.
Company and city officials announced details of the planned store at city hall Wednesday.
Construction of the 41,000-square-foot store at the intersection Centerton Boulevard and Greenhouse Road will begin in late fall or early winter. The store opens in the fall of 2014.
“Look at how this area has already grown, and it’s amazing what the future looks like,” said Chris Neeley, Walmart spokesman.
Centerton’s population jumped 374 percent in 12 years, growing from 2,145 residents in 2000 to 10,170 in 2012, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
“We saw there was a need for convenience,” said Brian Hooper, vice president of real estate for Walmart.
Hooper said Centerton’s store will be similar to a Neighborhood Market that opened Aug. 28 in southwest Bentonville. It will carry grocery items, household supplies and have a deli, bakery and pharmacy. It will not have gasoline pumps but will seek a beer and wine permit, he said.
The market will employ about 95 people.
“We feel this will be a huge economic boost for the city,” said Bill Edwards, Centerton mayor. “We hope to see the whole (commercial) area grow quickly.”
Hooper said other retailers follow Walmart’s lead into an area.
“It’s always easier to be the second or third to commit to an area than to be the first,” he said.
Edwards said the city could also use more restaurants. He said the city issues 40 to 50 building permits each month, about the same rate as prior to the recession that ran from December 2007 to June 2009.
The addition of a high school in town will create even more residential demand, he said.
Centerton is part of the Bentonville School District. Voters approved a 2.9-mill increase on Sept. 17 to build a high school in Centerton. The School District plans to have the second high school open by August 2016.
At A Glance
New Store
Walmart plans to open a 41,000-square-foot Neighborhood Market at Centerton Boulevard and Greenhouse Road. The retailer will begin in late fall or early winter and open the store in the fall of 2014.
Source: Staff Report
Helping traffic move through town is the widening of Centerton Boulevard, which is also Arkansas 102, from Greenhouse Road to Main Street. There will be two lanes in each direction with a continuous turning lane down the center. The state widened that section between 2008 and 2011.
Steve Lawrence, district engineer for the Highway Department, said the widening project’s completion date is in May, but could be done early. The project started in September 2012.
Lawrence said the contractor, APAC Construction, has completed 54 percent of the work in 55 percent of the time allotted.
“They could be done early. It depends on how they progress in the next month or two,” he said. “They are getting ready to do a substantial part of the paving and that is where the percent complete jumps pretty quickly.”
The Centerton Neighborhood Market will be on the southwest corner of where the widening project begins.
A traffic study showed between 18,000 and 20,000 vehicles travel the highway stretch through Centerton each day.
“Where people can travel, where people live, is where people shop,” Hooper said. “I can’t go somewhere without the residential growth.”
Walmart is expanding in other areas of Northwest Arkansas. The retailer earlier this month announced plans for a for a Neighborhood Market at the intersection of U.S. 412 and Holly Street in Siloam Springs. The store is slated to open next fall.
Work is just getting underway on Springdale’s second supercenter. The 180,000-square-foot store will be off Elm Springs Road, west of Interstate 540 and should also open in the fall of 2014.