New Route 58 Walmart developers apply for building permits
The developers of a new Walmart proposed for the western end of Route 58, across from Tanger Outlets, have applied for building permits, although they had not received them as of yesterday, Wednesday.
The proposed 170,000-square-foot Walmart was approved by the Town Board in in 2007. But that approval was challenged in court in two separate lawsuits, one by the United Food and Commercial Workers and the other by the company that owns the shopping center that houses the current Walmart further east on Route 58. A state appellate court in May 2010 ruled in favor of the new Walmart.
The current Walmart, which is about 113,000 square feet, would eventually be replaced by the new one.
Headriver LLC, the company behind the new Walmart plan, originally proposed building a Lowes store on the same 21-acre site in 2003. That plan also wound up in court after the Town Board voted 3-2 to approve it but needed four votes to override a county planning commission rejection of the plan. Headriver brought that lawsuit, but eventually dropped Lowe’s in favor of Walmart in a settlement of the lawsuit. A Lowes has since been built on the former Suffolk Life site on Route 58.
Linda Margolin, the attorney representing Headriver LLC, could not immediately be reached for comment.
