”
Hi Red Phone, first of all I’m a longtime reader and I’m glad to
see that lately there have been more entries. And second, my
question is about Wal-Mart. Will it open this month to take
advantage of the back to school sales?
“Hi Red Phone, first of all I’m a longtime reader and I’m glad to see that lately there have been more entries. And second, my question is about Wal-Mart. Will it open this month to take advantage of the back to school sales? I see that the parking lot and sidewalks are all done and the construction fence has been moved just to the entrance of the store, and also inside everything looks finished, so do you know what day it will open? Also is there any chance that Ross will move back to Cochrane Plaza? With Wal-Mart open there should be more people shopping, because honestly I don’t like where they decided to relocate at Dunne and Monterey, the store is smaller and that zone just doesn’t feel right. Well that’s all, thank you.”
and …
“Red Phone, just wondering when Wal-Mart is going to open? Got an update for us? Thanks.”
Red Phone:Dear Eager Shoppers, Red Phone contacted Garrett Toy, Business Assistance and Housing Services Director, who said Wal-Mart is scheduled to open in mid September, but is waiting for an exact date from Wal-Mart officials, which should be coming in the next few weeks. Red Phone also noticed the changes in the parking lot and was wondering the same thing. It appears Wal-Mart will not be getting any revenue from the back to school sales, which for the most part are going on right now. Perhaps Ross, which by the way Toy said does not have any plans to move back to Cochrane Plaza, will get some of those dollars. Wow, hard to believe the start of school is just 11 days away.
Barrels at old liquor store are now gone
“Red Phone, I see the city removed the barrels of soil that sat in the parking lot of what was once the Simple Beverages store. Just wanted to thank the city for removing them. Keep up the good work, Red Phone.”
Red Phone: Dear Grateful, thanks for the kind words. A while back a reader called to ask what was in the barrels. At the time, Red Phone contacted David Heindel, assistant to the city manager for downtown revitalization.
He provided a report done by SCS engineers in March, prior to the city buying the lot. As you may or may not know, the site once housed a gas station and auto repair facility, and an investigation was undertaken to determine whether the groundwater under the property was contaminated. The barrels contained soil samples. According to the report, an underground storage tank was detected, but the groundwater “does not appear to be impacted with gasoline-related constituents at significant concentrations.”
The report goes on to note that it is possible that subsurface vehicle lifts and other auto repair related equipment could be present beneath the building. Finally, the report recommends excavating the suspected fuel island to determine whether any piping or hardware is in place. So good caller, it seems at some point more investigation will need to be done, but for now the store is closed, a new parking lot has been built south of the old liquor store and the barrels are gone. Red Phone will pass along the gratitude to the city as well.
