Wal-Mart Eyes Site in Flushing, Then Decides To Look Elsewhere

Wal-Mart appears to have backed out of a plan to move into a vacant retail space in Queens, a location that likely would have bypassed City Council review of a new store.It’s the second location that America’s largest retailer has been known to have eyed in Queens, and the second time in 14 months that Wal-Mart has backed down.The Arkansas-based chain has no store in New York City. Shoppers who want to patronize Wal-Mart have to go to New Jersey or Long Island, which reap the sales tax revenues. Labor unions and some politicians in New York have opposed the presence of a Wal-Mart in the city, criticizing the company’s treatment of its employees.A report dated April 11 in a trade publication that tracks construction activity, the Dodge Report, said that “Wal-Mart store #4206” would be located on Roosevelt Avenue and Main Street in Flushing.The vacant site was formerly home to a now defunct retailer, Caldor. The report said the Wal-Mart project was in its “final planning” stages, and a renovation costing between $5 million and $10 million would begin this July. It listed contacts at Wal-Mart’s headquarters in Bentonville, Ark., and an architectural firm in nearby Rogers, Ark.In a statement yesterday, a Wal-Mart director of corporate affairs, Mia Masten, said: “In the process of looking at sites throughout the five boroughs, we did examine the site of the former Caldor store in Flushing, Queens, and decided it does not meet our criteria.”Because the Flushing site is already zoned for retail use, a Wal-Mart store in an existing structure likely would have bypassed City Council land use review, according to development experts.The City Council has been an obstacle to Wal-Mart entering the lucrative New York market. Last year, the council was instrumental in blocking Wal-Mart’s entry into Rego Park, Queens. The council also passed legislation requiring large grocery stores to pay some medical insurance premiums for their employees, a move that was seen as directed at Wal-Mart.Yesterday, representatives from Wal-Mart met with the senior staff of City Council Speaker Christine Quinn at City Hall. According to a spokeswoman for Ms. Quinn, Maria Alvarado, Wal-Mart representatives were asked “point blank” about the Flushing site and said they had no serious plans for it.When Ms. Quinn later yesterday learned about the Dodge Report on the Flushing project, she asked the Wal-Mart representatives to return to her office with more information.Ms. Alvarado said Ms. Quinn judged Wal-Mart’s nondisclosure of its interest in the Flushing site to be “disingenuous at best,” and at worst, “lying.”Ms. Alvarado said Ms. Quinn believes it is “absolutely unacceptable” for Wal-Mart to build a store anywhere in the five boroughs without consulting with the City Council first, even it is not legally required to do so.Ms. Quinn has expressed concerns about Wal-Mart’s purchasing and employment practices and questioned whether the retailer should ever be permitted to open a New York store.Yesterday’s “introductory meeting” between Ms. Quinn’s staff and Wal-Mart representatives was planned weeks in advance, according to Ms. Alvarado.According to city property records, the Flushing site is now owned by Vornado Realty Trust, one of the city’s most active real estate developers, and the owners of the Rego Park site that Wal-Mart tried to occupy. Messages to Vornado were not returned. The site has 183,743 square feet of retail space spread over four floors, and has 343 parking spaces.A representative of the United Food and Commercial Workers, a union that has staunchly opposed Wal-Mart, Pat Purcell, said bypassing the City Council would be “penny-wise, pound foolish” for Wal-Mart, because it would likely anger the legislative body that would presumably need to approve future projects.Council Member John Liu, a Democrat of Flushing, said he has consulted with the owners of the Caldor site and does not believe it would be suitable for a Wal-Mart.Even if it were, Mr. Liu said, “Wal-Mart is not welcome in Flushing anyway.”“There is no need that would be satisfied by Wal-Mart coming into downtown Flushing,” he said. “The only purpose it would serve would be to displace economic activity, not supplement economic activity.”

Wal-Mart Eyes Site in Flushing, Then Decides To Look Elsewhere

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