TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — The Walmart near Houghton and Old Vail Road is a big store but property records show that Walmart has bought land to build an even bigger store nearby. Te company is not commenting on its plans for the new store, or the existing store near the new site.
The rush of new retail is a measure of how fast the growth is in this area so we’re asking how the area will adapt to that growth.
It’s not just a new Walmart bringing new retail to Old Vail Road.
Costco's planning a big new warehouse on a plot of land on Old Vail.
Sprouts is building a supermarket on the same road. Many other restaurants and retailers are lining up to serve customers in Tucson and Pima County’s fast growing Southeast side.
Lori Gallegos remembers when things were a lot quieter there.
“I just couldn't believe all the stores that were out here. I was gone for 10 years. I came back maybe like six months ago, and it's just huge out here. But it kind of needed it because of all the people moving here.”
But that change could really challenge Old Vail Road with much more traffic than it carries now.
The City of Tucson offered incentives like tax breaks to attract Costco, the 320 jobs it’s expected to create and the millions of dollars in sales tax it’s expected to pump into the city budget.
Mike Czechowski,Tucson’s Economic Development Director says big developers are required to estimate how their development will affect traffic—and improve the road to cope with the traffic they’ll add.
“Development pays for development, so in this case, they will be required to do a new turn lane, to do a traffic signal, and they'll be required to pay for it, so they'll they'll be doing those with the project, and we'll use a sales tax incentive to reimburse back to them to help offset those costs.”
Czechowski thinks the stores on Old Vail could draw from many miles around.
Lori Gallegos is not so sure about the need for a new Walmart. She has been thinking of extra traffic the new stores could bring in from Vail and Corona De Tucson.
“There's the traffic issue, but I do love having all the stores near me. It's kind of like a city on its own now.”
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Craig Smith is a reporter for KGUN 9. With more than 40 years of reporting in cities like Tampa, Houston and Austin, Craig has covered more than 40 Space Shuttle launches and covered historic hurricanes like Katrina, Ivan, Andrew and Hugo. Share your story ideas and important issues with Craig by emailing craig.smith@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook and Twitter.
