Medary.com

Here at home, suburban Kansas City, MO, the Kansas City Star talks about two new Wal-Mart Supercenters as being economic lifts for the inner-suburban ring (Kansas City Star requires free registration):

One of the most high-profile construction sites in eastern Jackson County is the Wal-Mart Supercenter being built near the intersection of Interstate 70 and U.S. 40.

The Wal-Mart is on schedule to open in January.

The 195,000-square-foot facility will occupy much of the site of the former Blue Ridge Mall, torn down last year. It will be the principal anchor of the new Blue Ridge Crossing Shopping Center being developed by MBS Mall Investor-98, LLC.

There will be other retail stores beyond Wal-Mart. In addition, the developer anticipates soon breaking ground on a 22,000-square-foot retail building that will sit on the north side of the property along Interstate 70. Crews will start moving dirt for that project in mid-October.

And, in near-by Raytown, in the Missouri 350 Highway corridor:

The biggest plum would be a new Wal-Mart Supercenter. Aldermen are considering the project now and could make some key decisions within a month.

The move comes as city leaders acknowledge that keeping the community’s current Wal-Mart would be difficult. It sits at 6709 Blue Ridge Blvd., a location that “won’t serve them well,” city Finance Director Dan Estes said.

“We figured it was advantageous to engage them in building a new store in Raytown,” Estes continued, referring to the larger Supercenter. “We want to have that tax base for the next 20 to 25 years.”

Estes sees the Supercenter, which he says could break ground in 2008, as an economic spark.

“This is the start of more to come. It’s the seed money to have future growth along the corridor.”