Downsized Wal-Mart proposed in new urban project

Wal-Mart is proposing to build a 40,000 sq. ft. Neighborhood Market in Highlands Garden Village in Denver, the first such store in a new urban community. The proposal has stirred up controversy for developers Charles Perry and Jonathan Rose, who are facing an organized opposition that reportedly collected close to 3,000 signatures and has gone so far as to picket Perry’s home. The store is a relatively recent type for Wal-Mart — much smaller than its typical stores, and focusing on groceries but also including a pharmacy and general merchandise. Neighborhood Markets have been built in many states, mostly throughout the South, since 2001. Several have been built in the Kansas City area. According to new urbanist architect Kevin Klinkenberg, who is based in Kansas City, these stores are about the size of a Whole Foods and theoretically could fit on urban infill sites like that of Highlands Garden Village. The Kansas City stores have so far been built as anchors for conventional suburban shopping centers, Klinkenberg reports. The Highlands Garden Village store, if built, will have to adhere to urban codes. The 27-acre, 290-unit Highlands Garden Village, a redevelopment of Denver’s old Elitch Gardens amusement park, is near completion, with single-family houses, townhouses, and apartments. A historic theater is being renovated to serve as a performing arts center, and an old carousel and a gazebo have been saved as civic structures. The one remaining piece of the puzzle is approximately 100,000 square feet of commercial space on four small blocks. The developers have long envisioned a grocery store anchoring small shops. According to Perry, the small supermarket is necessary for the revitalization along 38th Avenue, which he calls an infill arterial. “We needed an anchor store to create solid, stable retail,” he says. Without anchors, infill arterials — city thoroughfares with a lot of traffic and suburban-style strip commercial — tend to have marginal retail with high turnover, he explains. The search for a small grocery Finding a grocery store has not been easy, Perry says, because most operators want a 65,000-square-foot footprint with commensurate parking. That’s too big for Highlands Garden Village, which is approved to include a 40,000-square-foot grocery. The developers checked with 20 national, regional, and independent grocers that build and operate stores in the 35,000- to 40,000-square-foot range, but had no luck. “Out of the blue, Wal-Mart called us,” Perry says. “They said they had a product that they had built in the South and Kansas City, and that our site might be appropriate for it.” In mid-April the design process for the store was just beginning. Wal-Mart likely will have to adjust its standard template to meet the guidelines. “I have seen pictures of other Neighborhood Markets, which are relatively attractive, and I have hopes that we will be able to come to an agreement,” says Perry. According to the PUD agreement, the store is allowed as long as it complies with design criteria. Calthorpe Associates and Civitas, two firms experienced in the New Urbanism, drew up the design guidelines, which call for buildings to line the streets and which also address landscaping, location of parking, and other issues. The Denver Planning Board will decide whether the design criteria have been met. Highlands Garden Village has encountered a fair share of controversy over the years, because many residents in the area wanted the old amusement site to be developed into a park. Many of the project’s elements, including mixed-use, cohousing, affordable housing, and a relatively high density, also provoked opposition. Perry and Rose lobbied hard to gain approval for narrower streets, getting the standards reduced from 36 feet to 32 feet (still wider than the 28-foot-wide streets in nearby historic neighborhoods). Despite past opposition, Perry believes that “if a grocery store at this size had been given any other name — say Dean & DeLuca, Wild Oats, or Whole Foods — all of this controversy would not be going on.” In addition to the grocery store, the plan calls for a two-story, 14,000-square-foot building with retail on the first floor and offices above. Prospective tenants include a bank, Starbucks, dry cleaner, and hair salon, Perry says. Other blocks may include restaurants and a liquor store. u