Wal-Mart Plans To Buy North Side Site Proceeds From Northpointe Sale Would Finance Albi Sports Complex

Wal-Mart has tentatively agreed to buy 30 acres in north Spokane for $3.6 million to build a second store within the city limits.

The price is $1.6 million over the appraised value of the city-owned parkland that voters overwhelmingly endorsed selling in an election last spring.

“Economically, this is a windfall for the city,” said Councilman Jeff Colliton, who serves as liaison to the park board. “In this case, the county’s loss is our gain,” he said, referring to property and sales tax revenue.

Wal-Mart battled a neighborhood in Spokane County for two years, trying and failing to rezone 40 acres to build a shopping center.

The $3.6 million selling price will allow the Parks Department to build the long-dreamed of sports complex at Joe Albi Stadium, said Ange Taylor, parks and recreation director.

The complex would include a half-dozen lighted softball fields, a skateboard area, new soccer fields, an in-line skate hockey rink,outdoor basketball courts and parking.

“The bottom line is that we are getting the money and the people are getting the park improvements,” Taylor said.

Money from the sale will also be used for a 4-acre neighborhood park on the Wal-Mart site and to design the 113-acre Albi site.

If all goes smoothly, the sale agreement could be completed within a year.

The city has been working with Wal-Mart for more than three years trying to find a suitable site on the far North Side.

Last spring, Wal-Mart announced plans to build a store at the Shadle Shopping Center.

The 30-acre Northpointe property, at the intersection of Holland Avenue and Colton Street, was originally a sewer lagoon. The parks department bought the property from the city’s wastewater management department for $750,000 in 1993, hoping to build a softball complex.

When financing for the project failed to materialize, Taylor hatched a plan to sell the property and use the money to build the complex at Albi Stadium. About 80 percent of the voters agreed with the plan.

But his plan was dealt a blow earlier this year when an independent appraiser estimated the value of the property at $2 million, not enough to cover the cost of the sports complex.

Jack McCullough, an attorney for Wal-Mart, said the extra $1.6 million was a fair price in the company’s view, given the scarcity of large parcels appropriately zoned and near high-traffic areas on the North Side.

“Obviously we are trying to get into the north Spokane area,” McCullough said. “We need 20 acres or more and an arterial. There are a fairly small number of sites available like that, and it was worth it to Wal-Mart to pay more.”

McCullough said Wal-Mart also liked the idea that the money was going to be used to build a park and sports complex.

Wal-Mart officials plan to begin holding community meetings soon.

McCullough said he has already talked to owners of the Leisure Care retirement community, which is being built next door.

The city sold 11 acres to Leisure Care, separate from the park property, for $1.8 million earlier this year.

McCullough has also contacted the Nevada-Lidgerwood Neighborhood Council.

Al French, chairman of the neighborhood council, said he expects concerns about how traffic will be handled.

“If they plan to use neighborhood streets as mini-arterials, that is going to cause us some heartburn,” French said. “We will just have to be creative if we are going to have the kind of traffic a Wal-Mart brings.”

Since the shopping center is in the city, the neighborhood will have opportunities to comment.

“If it was built in the county, we would still have the traffic and the impacts, but we wouldn’t have any say in the process and we wouldn’t have any revenue from the project,” French said.

Public hearing The city park board will hold a public hearing Nov. 11 before deciding whether to accept the option agreement. Then the agreement would be forwarded to the City Council for final approval.