Wal-Mart Coming to Boulevard?

I happen to pick up a stray copy of this week's Style Weekly today and found the article titled "Bob Bobb's Back with Boulevard Redevelopment Bid".  First of all, I wanted to read the article simply because I needed to find out who exactly carries the name Bob Bobb... Second, I was interested in the proposal for the Boulevard/Diamond area. 

I won't get into the details of the plan, except to say that if Richmond welcomes a single-A minor league team to the area, without having done any research on the issue, our region would have to be the largest to host the smallest caliber baseball team.

Bob(b)'s development will feature a redesigned Arthur Ashe Center, or "megaplex" as it would be called; an 8,000 seat baseball stadium; and a swimming and tennis complex among other things.  Along with these sports facilities would be 373,700 square feet of retail space.  SW also indicated,

In his proposal to the city, Bobb also claims to have a “letter of interest” from a big box retailer for a 200,000-square-foot store (bold added) on the site.

As far as I know, there are very few retailers that feature 200,000 sq.ft. stores, while the most prominent is Wal-Mart.  I did some very, very brief research on this topic and found the average store size for the following: Wal-Mart -  98,000-261,000 sq.ft.; Target 174,000;  Costco - 145,000; Home Depot - 130,000; Kroger - 31,343; Dick's Sporting Goods - 50,000; Best Buy - 36,000.

So, I'm not sure what to conclude, and obviously I'm speculating here, but just envision 200,000 square feet of big box greatness welcoming Richmond's visitors off of I-95, hmm...

Comments

[Eric]

Tennis? Really? I like Tennis - never thought that there wasn't enough courts at the end of the Boulevard.

Where their is a Lowes - their is Wal-mart.. I'm sorry Richmond.

[Delayne Proteinstain]

I think it would actually be nice to go to a Walmart that wasn't packed full of county trash and their mewling cabbage-headed kids. Our city folks deserve affordable items and price competition. I can't even think of a place closeby to go pick up a pack of socks or white t-shirts at a moments notice. Target as a large retailer has had a monopoly on everything East of West Broad, which sucks. And just about anything would be an improvement on the stinky skidmark that is the Richmond City stretch of North Boulevard.

[Paul H]

This was mentioned by Bill Pantele in his District 2 meeting last month. For my part I would welcome it. How many Richmonders drive to Short Pump or Brook Road to spend their money? While not fashionable or politically correct, I would like that money spent in the city to support school and parks.