Mayor Hindman has voiced concerns about vacant, unused buildings in Columbia.
The opening of a new Wal-Mart Supercenter today in Grindstone Plaza comes a year after the Columbia City Council expressed concern about upkeep of the building it replaces.
When the council approved the development of a new Wal-Mart last January, Mayor Darwin Hindman did not want the old Wal-Mart in Rock Bridge Shopping Center staying empty after the move.
According to the minutes from the Jan. 17, 2006, meeting, Hindman cited concerns about the property ending up like other vacant buildings in the city that have become rundown and have drawn complaints from residents.
Today’s opening comes three months after a new Wal-Mart Supercenter opened on Broadway. Columbia now has three Supercenters, including one on Conley Road.
While vacant buildings have been a problem in Columbia, Hindman said some of the rundown buildings have been renovated and improved.
“It is a matter of concern, but you need to give the system some time to work,” Hindman said.
However, the system has to work without a binding agreement between the city and developer Otto Maly as to how soon the building will be occupied again.
“It wasn’t anything that Otto could promise them,” spokeswoman Melody Parry said. “They decided not to do a contingency on that because it’s not in our hands.”
Hindman concurred that there was no binding agreement, but was hopeful that the market would take care of the vacancy.
“There should be considerable incentive to look for tenants,” Hindman said. “It’s a valuable piece of property. You would expect that the owner would be out looking hard for tenants. There is obvious economic incentive.”
Maly said he has been working with a potential tenant for the building Wal-Mart is leaving, but no agreement has been reached. He said they have been negotiating for a long time and is hopeful to have an agreement soon. Once an agreement is signed, Maly plans to renovate the former Wal-Mart building.
In addition, Maly said there was interest from tenants in dividing the old Nowell’s grocery store into junior boxes, multiple smaller stores. Maly doesn’t have a timetable for when new tenants might move in, he said.
“The timetable is always driven by the tenant,” he said.
With 100,000 square feet empty, at $15 per square foot, Maly said he could lose $1.5 million a year while the building sits empty.
“There is no one that wants those buildings leased more than us,” Maly said.