Mystery Building Proposal Looks Like Lane County's Fourth Wal-Mart Development

EUGENE, OR-A warehouse retail building is being proposed for a commercial tract here, and it shares more than a passing resemblance to the typical Wal-Mart development. A local Eugene family submitted the proposal for a 22.6-acre commercial parcel it owns on West 11th Avenue near Belt Line Road. The proposal describes the building only as a “free standing discount superstore,” but nobody here considers it much of a mystery.

The store Wal-Mart approved for Springfield earlier this year will be 148,600 sf, and includes the option for its eventual expansion into a 219,000-sf “supercenter.” The Cuddleback family’s proposal in Eugene calls for a 149,000-sf store, with a possible expansion to 224,000-sf. Assuming the obvious, the building would be the Arkansas-based chain’s fourth in Lane County, after the Springfield store that should open next year and existing stores in Cottage Grove and the Green Acres shopping in Eugene.

According to county records, the Cuddlebacks had sold off a portion of the land question and then bought it back at a $50,000 premium to reassemble the parcel for its Wal-Mart proposal. According to the city, the family also spent $500,000 running public street extensions through the middle of the parcel, then asked the city for permission to tear it out and run the road along the edge of the property, creating one large parcel instead of the dozen or so small parcels originally planned. The city approved the realignment in August.