Wal-Mart stores change, steer clear of compact design

By Rachel Lianna Davis Staff Writer `` racheld@nwanews.com

Posted on Friday, June 2, 2006

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BENTONVILLE — America’s suburbs are brimming with Wal-Marts, so the giant retailer is headed downtown.

On April 4, the company announced plans to enter 50 urban markets. But Wal-Mart was founded on the edges of towns, as Sam Walton tried to bring low-cost goods to smaller markets long neglected by larger retailers.

As a result, the stores are built for automobiles. Walking or riding a bus is nearly impossible in many suburbs, so residents have no choice but to drive.

Operating a retail outlet in a city requires complex transit options and thoughtful store design. Now the giant is tackling these issues as it enters a new market. Smart Growth Instead of driving to your local Wal-Mart for all your daily needs, imagine the Wal-Mart Village, a neighborhood-type retail development built for both cars and urban pedestrians. "What Wal-Mart is doing right now is pushing the envelope in terms of environmental issues, recycling, materials, permeable surfaces, plantings, cooling/heating,"said Laura Hall, principal and planner with Fisher & Hall Urban Design in Santa Rosa, Calif. "But if people are still driving to it, it’s still an environmental problem."

With traffic and commute times a major gripe across America, cities nationwide are considering Smart Growth-type plans to reduce traffic and encourage pedestrianism.

Smart Growth — also known as traditional neighborhood design — advocates walkable, compact neighborhoods with mixed uses and multiple transportation options.

Wal-Mart could be part of that change, Hall believes.

The company is already "going green,"as it were, focusing heavily on energy efficiency, waste reduction and sustainable products. The retailer also understands the concern many people have about its large, often disposable stores.

According to Walmartstores. com: "What we are learning about our footprint on the environment is both shocking and inspiring. Despite our excellence in efficiency, commerce creates a lot of waste. Fortunately, we’ve identified plenty of opportunities that, if captured, can transform our entire industry."

Wal-Mart is experimenting with wind power, solar panels and reused chicken grease for heating and cooling. But, as Hall states, if every store is dependent on customers in automobiles, then traffic and environmental issues facing many communities will not go away. Wal-Mart Village: A new option After Hurricane Katrina decimated the Gulf Coast last August, Hall joined 120 urban planners in Biloxi, Miss., in October for the Mississippi Renewal Forum. New Urbanists, who advocate mixed-use, traditional town planning, converged on the coastline to discuss the rebuilding of 11 communities.

Hall served as team leader for Pass Christian, Miss., which sits between Biloxi and New Orleans. The pre-Katrina population was 7,000, with roughly 1,200 residents after the storm.

City officials liked the plans so much that in February, they rehired Hall’s team to conduct a public input meeting, or charrette, about the SmartCode. The SmartCode is a zoning document that provides a framework for traditional town planning — compact, walkable development.

The results, a proposed Wal-Mart Village, even surprised Hall.

The Wal-Mart Village appears similar to a historic downtown, with shops and multilevel buildings on the outside, fronting city streets. The parking lot is enveloped by a canopy of trees, and it’s located inside the shopping area, not fronting the streets.

At the Wal-Mart Village, shoppers could find the one-stop-shop that Wal-Mart touts, but in an urban setting with plenty of parking. The site encourages pedestrians but still welcomes automobiles.

However, shoppers could also complete other errands nearby, such as laundry, drycleaning, insurance, video rental or a visit to a gym. "Services that Wal-Mart doesn’t provide would be ideal for around there,"Hall said.

The proposed Wal-Mart Village is about five miles from Pass Christian’s historic downtown; they are divided by primarily singlefamily residential housing, Hall said.

In Pass Christian’s traditional, historic downtown, the city’s codes are different, allowing smaller, unique shops such as gift spots, antique stores and high-end boutiques, Hall said — "just like they had before (Hurricane Katrina)."

Residents could ride a bike a few miles either way, or drivers could park once at each spot— the historic downtown and the Wal-Mart Village. "It’s too cool,"Hall said.

The multilevel buildings surrounding the Wal-Mart Village could hold dozens of residential units for employees and nearby service workers.

Placing housing, bike trails, sidewalks and various uses all near the Wal-Mart would reduce car trips and traffic.

Wal-Mart’s actions are a big deal, in Hall’s mind. "It would transform big boxes in America if they did this,"she said. "To think that a little town that’s almost erased from the map could be a leader of this — a devastated, depressed community with huge aspirations."

Right now, Pass Christian is the only place with such a revolutionary Wal-Mart design that Hall knows of, and she regularly receives calls from newspapers nationwide who have noticed the idea. "They’re not going to necessarily do something new, cutting-edge and expensive in every community right away — they’re testing it out with Pass Christian,"she said.

The Wal-Mart Village may be more expensive than a typical store, but with such a model, Wal-Mart might receive faster approval in communities across the country.

She was also pleasantly surprised by the company’s openness. "They put things in writing that I would have never thought they would. They’ve been completely open."

Rather than a big-box center placed in a single-use commercial area, the Wal-Mart Village fits more easily into residential areas, like the neighborhoods in Pass Christian.

If Wal-Mart wanted to expand or add a second story, the retailer could build customer or work-force housing nearby, Hall mentioned. "When (Wal-Mart) goes into a suburban market, they build a suburban store,"Hall said. "They’ve pretty much saturated that market, so they will actually build a different building type in (urban) situations."

And the benefits of a mixed-use development continue even if Wal-Mart decides to leave. With a mixed-use base, developers can more easily retrofit a worn-down shopping center. "There’s a way for everybody to win,"Hall said. "Communities can get beautiful buildings and (city) blocks, and if Wal-Mart ever leaves, instead of leaving an empty shell of a building and a parking lot, they’ll leave a building that could be recycled into something else. They’re contributing to the development of neighborhoods, which is in everyone’s benefit, and contributing to the diversity of housing types,"she said, mentioning apartments, condos and live-work units.

Wal-Mart will build its similar big-box stores nationwide unless individual communities set standards and request what they want, Hall said — such as treecovered parking lots or pedestrian walkways, for example. "They say they’re not a developer, but they have some of the most valuable property in this country. Now, where their stores are, are smack-dab in the middle of towns, like in Santa Rosa, (Calif.),"Hall’s hometown. "They’re sitting on some of the most prime land in the country — and many, many acres in every city because of the parking lots. This would be so cool."

The company could partner with a New Orleans developer to build the remainder of the Wal-Mart Village, Hall said, such as the three- or four-story mixed-use and residential units. Changing for urban areas Wal-Mart is changing store designs nationwide as the company moves further into urban markets. "Wal-Mart, with its firepower, could really lead the charge here,"Hall said.

With the Wal-Mart Village, the company would provide "lowcost goods in a high-value neighborhood,"Hall said.

But the Village is still under consideration, according to Eric Zorn, executive vice president of Wal-Mart Realty. Zorn joined Wal-Mart in 1993 in operations, gradually moving to his current position in the realty division in 2005. He previously spent 22 years with Jamesway Corp. in administration.

Wal-Mart does not appear to be headed for Smart Growth, according to Zorn.

When asked at the Wal-Mart media conference in April if the company is moving toward development less dependent on automobiles, Zorn replied," Not really. We certainly showed today the ability for us to do interesting things with less parking and additional stories in urban markets."

A pointed move toward Smart Growth development does not seem to be in Wal-Mart’s future, according to Zorn’s comments.

Wal-Mart is limited to land availability and zoning codes nationwide just like everybody else, he said. Many cities do not have zoning laws that would allow a mixed-use development like the Wal-Mart Village. Changing aesthetics Even if new stores steer clear of mixed-use projects, Zorn touted the company’s varying aesthetics at the media conference. The gray-and-blue big-box stores are largely a thing of the past, he said.

Over the last few years, Wal-Mart has designed its buildings to represent individual communities, Zorn said. City officials are requesting noise control, parking, signage and landscaping concessions, he said. With that, communities "feel like they’ve built their Wal-Mart for their community. The process is becoming much more open." "We’re looking for local architects, contractors and civil engineers. We’re working harder than ever with business leaders, elected officials, and city and county planners. We’re quite regularly attending open forums and bringing renderings."Wal-Mart now has a veritable "menu"of elevations to offer, Zorn said.

Margaret Garner, president and CEO of Broadway Consolidated Cos., is general contractor for the new Wal-Mart store on Chicago’s West Side Austin neighborhood — the first in Chicago’s city limits. "In the past, the way they were doing it just wasn’t working,"Garner said at the media conference. Now, Wal-Mart is "engaging the community early and developing partnerships with minorityowned businesses"such as hers. In Chicago, Wal-Mart is partnering with local colleges so students can engage in hands-on training while receiving an education. Those neighborhood residents are helping build their own Wal-Mart store, Garner said. "That’s phenomenal and powerful — it gives a sense of ownership,"she said.

The Chicago store is one of many unusual projects Wal-Mart is working on, Zorn said. "We are looking at 50 to 70 ‘special projects’ that are not traditional,"he said. The company is sharing tips and best practices with its international division, which has built multilevel stores in urban markets worldwide. "Wal-Mart Realty truly is a global company,"Zorn said. He showed photos of the Wal-Mart store in downtown New Orleans, which was an integral part of waterfront redevelopment. An old Montgomery Ward store became the Wal-Mart in downtown Sacramento, Calif. Chicago’s location replaced a long-abandoned shampoo factory. More changes to come The multiple levels alone are a different look for Wal-Mart, but that’s the tip of the iceberg. In Chicago, Wal-Mart is experimenting with grass on 50 percent of the store’s roof, joining many other companies in the city. The idea is so unique that community officials requested an observation tower so local students can view the grass roof. Wal-Mart also has a mixed-use store in Long Beach, Calif., and one in downtown Mesa, Ariz., which is near Phoenix.

Suburban Wal-Marts typically provide hundreds of parking spaces and take up many acres. But in urban areas, the building’s footprint must be more compact and relate to the street and sidewalks, allowing access for pedestrians as well as vehicles. "With more than 4,000 stores worldwide, we occupy a lot of land,"the Wal-Mart Web site states. "Virtually all land developments have unintended consequences to the surrounding land — soil disruption, loss of biodiversity and water runoff problems, to name a few.

"Wal-Mart is committed to developing a commonsense plan for selecting sites and using construction materials that minimize our footprint or improve the land we occupy. We have much to learn in this area, and we have begun to talk with nongovernmental organizations and other experts to better understand the issues and develop plans for our future growth," the Web site states.

The Rocky Mountain Institute contracts with Wal-Mart for environmental consulting, for example.

Later at the conference, Zorn flashed a series of new Wal-Mart elevations onto the screen, touting the company’s changing facades. Most of the changes are primarily aesthetic.

Only a few stores, such as in Baldwin Hills, Calif., or Makaloa, Hawaii, are multilevel. The company is considering other unique ideas, such as a two-story store with escalators to move customers, carts and freight; but most of the stores Zorn showed at the Wal-Mart Media Conference are surrounded by parking.

Even the experimental stores in McKinney, Texas, Aurora, Colo., are circled by hundreds of parking spaces. The stores are environmentally friendly and sustainable in many aspects with the use of wind power or permeable parking surfaces. But their parking lots are huge, daunting to pedestrians and limiting to public transportation.

But there is another way, Hall believes.

On a trip to Bentonville to visit Wal-Mart headquarters, Hall met with top executives in architecture and real estate divisions.

"They showed us images of their latest ‘green’ store models with windmills, solar heating and recycled building materials. We congratulated them on these features but told them that the urban form of these stores was still bad for the environment because everyone still had to drive there," Hall wrote in a March 20 editorial for the Santa Rosa Press Democrat.

Nearby Roseland, Calif., is having its own Wal-Mart fight."If they could just design some walkability and mixed-use into their design, up to 40 percent of the car trips to their stores could be eliminated," she wrote.

The Wal-Mart officials were enthusiastic about these pedestrian-friendly ideas and even attended the public input charrette in Pass Christian in February, Hall said. They stayed in the homes of locals — the locals who still had homes.

"To my knowledge, this has never happened before," she wrote in the op-ed piece."Here was Wal-Mart’s director of architecture with the New Urbanists, working night and day on a design that would meet their interests of not only the size of the store and the number of parking spaces, but also of providing nearby housing for their workers and plenty of nearby customers within walking distance. "And it was beautiful and walkable at the same time."

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