Residents want North Trail Walmart

They only groaned once.

Approximately 100 North Trail residents and business leaders found just one problem with Wal-Mart spokesperson Michelle Belaire’s pitch for the company’s proposed North Trail “neighborhood market,” which includes a pharmacy: It would take one year to build.

At the July 14 city of Sarasota informational meeting, Belaire announced it would take a year to erect the new building once the demolition of the shuttered Winn-Dixie supermarket at 3500 Tamiami Trail begins.
Except for that hiccup, Belaire’s description of the process was met with cheers and applause from people in a neighborhood yearning for a new grocery store.

North Trail residents have been without a nearby supermarket since the Winn-Dixie, which had operated there for four decades, closed last fall. The nearest grocery store is the Publix at North Tamiami Trail and 10th Street.

Doing the one-hour informational meeting, which was held at Crossroads Methodist Church, residents made known the impact of losing the area’s only grocery store.

Bellaire explained that Wal-Mart’s approximately 34,000-square-foot facility will include canopy awnings, bicycle racks, bus stops and pedestrian access points.

But nothing excited the crowd more than two announcements Belaire made.

“The big changes are tearing down the Winn-Dixie and building a new building in its place,” said Belaire, who appeared taken aback with the resulting applause. “From a local perspective, we hear you are excited about that.”

But Belaire’s next statement brought an even more enthusiastic level of approval.

“This supermarket will employ 90 to 100 employees, and we will open a hiring facility within a 5-mile radius of the store’s location to hire local employees,” Belaire said.

After the crowd roared, Belaire told everyone that when Wal-Mart recently prepared for the opening of a new supercenter in South Florida, store officials were surprised when they received 7,000 applications for approximately 150 jobs.

“We understand you are hurting and are glad we can help some of you looking for work,” Belaire said.
City planner Courtney Mendez told the crowd Wal-Mart has completed the site plan review process. The next step is for the application to come before the Board of Adjustment and the Sarasota Planning Board for review.

“It’s anticipated that we will hold a final hearing and commence the process Aug. 10,” said Belaire, who estimated the Walmart could be operating in August 2012.

Most residents and city officials said they believe the supermarket’s smaller footprint than the Winn-Dixie will have less of an impact on North Trail traffic.

Residents additionally were pleased to hear the project will include interior and exterior security cameras and enhanced parking lot landscaping.

Lorna Alston, general manager of North Sarasota redevelopment, attended the meeting and said she was pleased with the residents’ reaction to the project.

“The community appears to be welcoming this project with open arms,” Alston said. “That’s a good sign.”
The neighborhood market, if approved later this summer, would be the first of its kind in Sarasota County.

Contact Kurt Schultheis at [email protected].