DURA Eyes Wal-Mart Supercenter

However, in order to exercise the eminent domain powers, DURA first needs the approval of the City Council, which it has no immediate plans to precede.

DURA is discussing providing Wal-Mart with $10 million to $12 million in incentives for the project, which would create 450 to 475 jobs. Some people oppose providing a subsidy to the world's largest retail chain, which they claim doesn't treat employees well. Wal-Mart won't build the center unless it gets the tax increment financing.

The 220,000-sf Supercenter would generate $12.2 million in new taxes between its opening and 2016, compared with about $125,000 in tax revenues in the small Asian center currently there.

Mayor John Hickenlooper says he hasn't studied the proposal in detail."I'm told most of the people in the neighborhood, and not just the Anglos and Latinos, but the Asians, too, support it," Hickenlooper tells GlobeSt.com.

Some union leaders would rather see a grocery-anchored center there. But Hickenlooper tells GlobeSt.com that no other retailer has stepped up to the plate in the 12 years since the city declared the center at 2200 W. Alameda Ave. blighted."Whatever you think about Wal-Mart, it will create a lot of jobs," Hickenlooper tells GlobeSt.com. "And it does provide a service to the community by providing affordable goods."

However, he tells GlobeSt.com that he is sensitive to small business owners who would be displaced by the Wal-Mart. The city says it will help move them to other sites along West Alameda or South Federal Boulevard. "I was a small businessman before I became mayor," Hickenlooper tells GlobeSt.com. "But, nothing is ever perfect."