[Corrected at 3:12 p.m., Friday, Aug. 5. Note: An earlier version of this post, which was also printed in last week’s paper, overstated the degree of knowledge that Eureka City Manager David Tyson had regarding the identity of the new tenant at the Bayshore Mall.]
If you were hoping for a Best Buy in the old Gottschalks space at the Bayshore Mall — fuhgeddaboudit!
It’s a 73,000-square-foot apparel/grocery/pharmacy big box that looks pretty much like a Walmart, and it’s sailing through permitting at Eureka City Hall.
The new $4.6-million-dollar retail store construction project is going through a routine plan check in the Building Department. It already has been approved by the city’s Fire, Engineering and Community Development departments.
“The only thing left, I think, is design review for the sign,” said City Manager David Tyson Monday by phone. (On the building plans the sign has gigantic big block letters that read, “TENANT.”)
A review of the hefty, rolled building permit at City Hall reveals plans for 59,000 square feet of shelves (for apparel and food items), an 8,000-square-foot stockroom, 800 square feet of pharmacy, and a plan for freezer and cooling units in the grocery section. Oh, and racks where dog food will be offered.
Eureka businessman Rob Arkley, who also has substantial commercial real estate holdings, went on KINS radio last week and said the mystery tenant is indeed Walmart. But some people who may be able to confirm the identity of the tenant can’t talk.
Tyson said he “didn’t know who, officially, the occupant of the building would be. We don’t have any plans that have a name on it. We’ve not been told.” And everyone at the Carrington Co., a Eureka-based firm that owns 2 million square feet of commercial space in 23 states including the old Gottschalks, are under a confidentiality agreement not to disclose the tenant’s name, according to Pattison Christensen, Carrington’s asset manager.
Why is the project so expensive if it once held a Gottschalks? Christensen confirmed that the space will be substantially demolished, including the concrete foundation, and rebuilt to install new plumbing and electrical.
Carrington bought the building and the seven acres it sits on from the court during Gottschalks’ bankruptcy several years ago. At the time of the purchase the county had the property valued at $8 million.
“We bought it on speculation. We thought it was financially advantageous,” he said. “We didn’t have a specific tenant in mind. We had other tenants in mind but none that gave us the sort of return … as this particular client.”
Walmart is moving toward smaller-footprint stores to battle its two-year decline in sales, according to press reports. Rather that the 200,000-plus square foot superstores, the company has been opening smaller stores such as the one in Westside Village near Atlanta, which is less than 80,000 square feet. Walmart is also experimenting with “Walmart Express” stores that are 10,000 to 15,000 square feet.
“We’ve already got Target and Costco,” Christensen said. “As a fourth generation Humboldt County resident, I wouldn’t bring in any tenant I thought would terrify the marketplace and neither would Carrington.” (Francis Carrington is the owner of Carrington Co.)
“The [Bayshore] Mall came in 20 years ago. It did decimate the downtown for a while, but look at it now. It’s vibrant. … What sort of development should we want for Humboldt County? Infill for retail and housing.”
Christensen said the new retailer will create new jobs and increase the tax base because there is plenty of evidence residents are shopping out-of-county at this particular retailer now.
Oooh … and who else might that be with clothes, groceries and a pharmacy?
This article appears in Whales. In a River..
Too bad its not a Fred Meyers, I really liked the one they built in Chico twenty years ago but sadly they decided to pull out of California.
I never find clothes I like at WalMart, I think there are already plenty of grocery stores that sell cancer- and obesity-provoking foods, and I already have my favorite pharmacy.
Am I a snob? Do I not fit in with the Humboldt demographic?
“…. but look at it now. It’s vibrant. …”
Who is this idiot? If the mall or Eureka in general is vibrant I hate to imagine his opinion of dismal.
I belive that as the owners of this property they have the right to lease to Walmart if they want and I also agree that something is better than nothing but I also have the right not to shop at Walmart and fully intend to exercise that right..
Oh boy. I can hardly wait for the “vibrancy” of another WalMart.
I’m disgusted!! I WILL NOT shop there. I sure hope a lot of people do the same!
Pattison Christensen, fourth generation Humboldt County resident (as if that’s relevant to anything but to let us know you’re an arrogant snob): you do not speak for me.
You have shown an inordinate willingness to sell the values of your county out for nothing more than the almighty dollar – your own greed. You understand nothing about the what makes this county special.
You should be made to live in a tent in the bushes behind the Bayshore Mall and work as a greeter in your new Wal-Mart, for poverty wages. Taking food stamps from the county you profess to cherish to make up the difference toward a real living wage. Growing morbidly obese from the processed foods and preservative- and chemical-ridden snacks your employer sells.
If hell exists, you just purchased yourself a business-class ticket.
all i’m saying is that well thought out public shaming tactics for social responsibility might work really well in a small, conservative town like eureka. where everyone knows everyone. and neighbors still have the ability to hold one another accountable.
walmart is one topic many folks with fiscal conservativism can easily see the paradox.
go to your community’s sociology professors if you need research driven information for organizing!
I think the vibrant comment was referring to Old Town Eureka.
We might get a Ticket Master outlet out of it, so you could buy tickets ti shows in San Francisco . . http://consequenceofsound.net/2011/08/ticketmaster-teams-up-with-wal-mart/
Pissed Off (above) is ahead of me in the stages of grief. I’m still in denial.
The one consolation in all this is that, one day in the perhaps not-so-distant future, due to the almost complete absence of any decent-paying jobs in the area, the Arkley Center will shut down and will end up housing Eureka’s latest thrift store..
.Why is it most of you can only look at the bad? There is some good from this. I know some of you think it is going to take from local business. They will not lose business if you chose to continue shopping there. If you don’t want to buy the foods they have then don’t know one is forcing you to get it. You can’t blame Wal-Mart or any place about the obesity problem that is the person responsibility. No one is putting a gun to your head telling you to buy it and no one is putting a gun to your head and telling you to eat it. It’s all on you. Wal-Mart coming here will help out with the unemployment problem here. Yes I know they only pay minimum wage but who care’s it is better than making no money. I for one am tired of seeing all these people begging for money it is heart breaking and frustrating. Unless you people who are complaining about “they don’t pay enough, we don’t want them” start offering jobs with livable wages shut up and get the hell over it. No one is making you shop, work or eat there. Just go on with your life and let someone else be happy for it being here.
Walmart knew damned well if people knew they were coming to town there would be an uproar. So they snuck in the back door. I for one will continue to spend my money at Schafers, Piersons, Bucksport , Pro-sports etc. Big companies can come into a town like ours and run our local owners out of business then look at their bottom line and decide “It doesn’t pay to keep that store open” and then close up. Local business will stay here through thick and thin. We should repay loyalty with loyalty.
it is a Wal-Mart…while our city officials are trying to keep a secret, a search on Google came up with The Millcon Group who are a giant contractor for big box stores. In the list of their projects scroll down to R&O Construction you will see they are the sub contractor for the acoustical ceilings and it states “Wal-Mart Eureka, CA in progress”
To All The Whiners (you know who you are): HAHAHAHAHA! I, for one, am SICK AND TIRED of listening to your sniveling, self-righteous, grandstanding bullsh1t every time an “evil” big-box store shows an interest in this area. Boo f**king hoo! Every single one of you will find an excuse to enter those doors, just as you have at Target, Walgreens, Costco, Big K, Sears, Khol’s, etc. And just as you have eaten a quick bite at Applebee’s, Burger King, Taco Bell, Starbucks, Dutch Bros., McDonalds, Carl’s Jr. etc., soon you will be suckling contentedly at the teet of Walmart as well…(enter big fat smiley here). I cant wait to see you there, so I can shove your hypocracy in your face. Frankly, you should be pissed off at your “friendly” local retailers for ripping you off all these years with their ultra-high prices. Soapboxes are a dime a dozen though, aren’t they?
“Soapboxes are a dime a dozen though, aren’t they?”
They are at Wal-Mart!
What a sneaky, underhanded way to get into a community that not so long ago voted against their attempts to build a big-box store in our County.
I imagine Walmart, being the predatory, greedy business that it is, will work at undercutting the prices of the stores that are left in the mall, eventually canibalizing those businesses until Walmart IS Bayshore Mall. Then, they will become the biggest box store in Humboldt County and they will not even have to get a building permit!
Say “goodbye” to all of the local businesses that are probably barely making it in this economy.
It’s a cryin’ shame!
I’m beyond disappointed to here this!!! We should look at crescent city example they put in a wall mart & home depot and all the local Marina district stores closed up. It’s a ghost town there. I hope our community can come together and fight this together… If this soulless company enters humboldt county I exit!
Concerning the Millcon Group post, I went to the website millcongrp.com and wanted to make a correction. It says that they are building a Walmart in Yreka, not Eureka.
But still..boo on Walmart. I was hoping for an outlet store.
Everyone wants to battle Walmart, but most of these people will end up shopping there. As for a wage, most will start at the minimum. But you have to take into account the benefits package, which happens to be excellent. I’d be willing to bet, most retail stores in Eureka (big or small) start at minimum wage with little or no benefits package. I guess the the powers that be would be content at continuing to look at another empty store front rather than a company that would bring jobs, a large tax base and competitive pricing to Humboldt County.
spam much, tdogg? move out of humboldt and next door to a walmart. please.
I know I’m late to the party but it irritates me that people are complaining about a company coming here wanting to offer people jobs, they may start out at minimum wage but its employment!!! They will employ local people who will pay local taxes and spend their wages right here in the community on housing, food, utilities, entertainment and other things. Regardless of who the employer is jobs are good for this or any town! The local businesses here charge you up the wahoo because they can, where else are you going to go? We are in the middle of nowhere! If they have a good reputation, provide fair prices and excellent service then they will survive no matter who moves in next door. As for the people claiming the current situation in Eureka is all apple pie must not see the extremely large population of homeless people and drug addicts that crawl our streets everyday!
Is it true that Walmart pays women less money than men
I agree with The Fonz.
For the rest of you anti-Wal-Mart, you don’t have to shop at Wal-Mart. No one is holding a gun to your head and forcing you to shop at Wal-Mart.