In Windsor Heights, Walmart imagines a town center
KENT DARR Oct 25, 2018 | 8:09 pm
2 min read time
375 wordsBusiness Record Insider, Real Estate and Development, Retail and BusinessWalmart Inc. appears set to wrap a transit center at its Windsor Heights supercenter in a package that will include retail shops, restaurants and bars.
The Des Moines Area Regional Transit Authority is building what it calls a mobility hub at the store at 1001 73rd St., reputed to be the top grossing Walmart in the state. The hub will include park-and-ride spaces, areas for bicycle parking and an improved shopping cart corral.
Walmart officials have said they plan to transform chunks of large parking lots at stores in cities around the country into town centers. According to the Walmart website, one of those town centers is planned for the Windsor Heights.
“The existing Windsor Heights site located at 1001 73rd St. will feature a two phase development plan that will introduce the following to the existing layout,” the website says. You can view “the following” here. (If you don’t follow the link, the website has renderings of a plethora of attractive new buildings that would front the store.)
During a speech at a recent meeting of the International Council of Shopping Centers, Walmart head of U.S. real estate operations L.B. Johnson had this to say, according to the Atlanta Business Journal: “We want to provide community space, areas for the community to dwell – a farmer’s market, an Easter egg hunt, trick-or-treating. We want to provide pedestrian connectivity from our box to the experiential zones that are planned on our footprint. We want to augment these experiences and activities with more food and beverage, with health and fitness, essential services and entertainment.”
So far, plans for a town center development have not been presented to city officials, said Sheilah Lizer, building and zoning official for Windsor Heights.
A Walmart spokesperson could not be reached for comment.
According to the website, which features demographic information about Greater Des Moines, the Windsor Heights town center would have retail, beverage and entertainment components. Retail would be a “carefully curated mix of local, regional and national tenants in an active setting,” while entertainment would involve a “carefully curated mix of entertainment and recreational activity.” The beverage component “will feature diverse dining choices making it the natural ‘go-to’ destination for any night out with friends and family.”
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