In a front page story in the latest edition of the Milwaukee Business Journal, Franklin Mayor Tom Taylor says he welcomes Wal-Mart’s plans to expand the current Wal-Mart at 6701 S. 27th Street in Franklin into a Wal-Mart Supercenter.
Wal-Mart Supercenters take the traditional Wal-Mart and expand the store by adding a grocery supermarket.
Rich Kirchen writes in the Business Journal:
Taylor said he will support the supercenter as long as Wal-Mart agrees to comply with the design standards in the new 27th Street corridor plan that was developed in cooperation with the city of Oak Creek over the last several months.
Among the requirements Taylor will seek are wider sidewalks, improved landscaping in the parking lot, better roofing and frontage roads that mesh with the city street grid.
“It would be real nice if Wal-Mart upgraded that business in that area,” he said.
Another issue is that Franklin officials want Wal-Mart Stores to upgrade its Sam’s Club, which is located on the same property, Taylor said. Wal-Mart representatives have yet to agree to that.
Wal-Mart’s Franklin expansion proposal will need the approval of the city plan commission and then the common council, Taylor said. He predicted the process would take six to 12 months, “if everything goes smoothly.” My prediction: There is no way “everything goes smoothly.”
I wholehearted endorse the Wal-Mart expansion. Competition and greater consumer choices make for a better community.
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