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Wal-Mart Dumps Holiday Store Plan

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By Carl  Orth | The Suncoast News

Published: May 9, 2008

NEW PORT RICHEY -- "I have goose bumps," Holiday resident Cynthia Besio said Friday when she first heard the news Wal-Mart will abandon plans to build a store at S.R. 54 and Grand Boulevard.

"How awesome! I'm going to put a sign in my yard," Besio exclaimed. The sign might say something like "No Wal-Mart Coming," Besio crowed with a hearty chuckle.

For three years Besio and a group of residents battled against the plan for the Holiday-area Supercenter store with more than 200,000 square feet near Colonial Hills and other subdivisions.

"I actually got hate mail from people who wanted the Wal-Mart and thought I was stupid for fighting it," Besio recalled. The long process chipped away at the ranks of opponents until only a hearty few remained.

All hope among the Wal-Mart foes seemed lost Nov. 8 when the Pasco County Development Review Committee approved revised plans for the store. Besio and others gave up because they couldn't afford to pay any more legal fees to appeal the DRC decision.

A few months later Besio began hearing rumors Wal-Mart might abandon the S.R. 54 site.
The reprieve came Friday. Quenta Vettel, senior manager of public affairs over Central Florida for Wal-Mart, confirmed plans had been junked for the Holiday-area store.

"This is one of the stores that have been dropped," Vettel said. "Some of it was due to the economy, some of it was are we growing the right way." The nation's largest retailer had been refocusing its strategy for growth for about the past year, she said.

"You have no idea. I'm so excited," Besio reacted. She planned to contact everyone who had ever signed a petition over concerns about traffic and impact on homes in the area. It never quite made sense to Besio why Wal-Mart would build a store within five miles of the existing Wal-Mart at S.R. 54 and Little Road.

Now comes the question what might be built in place of the giant store at the Holiday- area site.
Vettel confirmed on Friday that Wal-Mart intends to sell the property, with some 26 acres in the main parcel on the southwest corner of S.R. 54 and Grand.

Besio said the residents all along would not have objected to a smaller Wal-Mart on the site, like neighborhood stores the retailer has experimented with in recent years.

A neighborhood park would remain the ideal choice for Besio and many residents. Perhaps only two acres bordering the subdivision could be dedicated to a small park. Right now children have no place to play but in the streets, she complained.

Commissioner Ann Hildebrand, who represents much of the Holiday area, said she doubts Pasco County could find the funds to buy land or build a park.

"I think the residents will be happy," Hildebrand said Friday. "I'm sure ultimately that property won't remain vacant."

At one time the corner had been occupied by Cox Lumber, followed by an auto auction site, Hildebrand recalled.

"The property is still zoned commercial," Hildebrand observed. "It's a great location right where it is."
Hildebrand would like to see some form of corporate or business center go up on the site, something that county economic development experts could market.

Besio agreed some small shops and business office space might be a good fit for the property. Longleaf provides an example of shops with apartments above them where store owners can work and live, Besio observed.

Carl Orth can be reached at corth@suncoastnews.com or 727-815-1068.

For more on this story see the May 10 West Pasco printed edition of The Suncoast News.

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