Lawrence may yet end up with a Wal-Mart Supercenter.

Miles Schnaer, president of Crown Automotive, confirmed Friday that Wal-Mart officials have approached him about buying his property at 3400 Iowa so the retailer could expand its existing store, which is next door.

“I would just say there is no truth to the rumor that Wal-Mart has bought me out, but I have talked to them,” Schnaer said.

The auto dealership is immediately south of the Wal-Mart store at 3300 Iowa.

Wal-Mart corporate spokesman Keith Morris would neither confirm nor deny the discussions. But he said Wal-Mart had not made a definite decision to expand its Lawrence store.

Morris said it wouldn’t be uncommon for the Bentonville, Ark.-based retailer to talk with adjacent property owners about such a purchase. He said the company plans in 2004 to build about 220 Wal-Mart Supercenters — Wal-Mart stores with a grocery department.

The company probably will look at about 1,000 sites before it decides on which 220 sites to build, Morris said, and it’s possible Lawrence may be in the early stages of consideration for a supercenter project.

“Nothing may ever come out of it, or something may come out of it,” Morris said. “It’s just hard to say.”

Wal-Mart, though, has previously shown interest in opening a supercenter in Lawrence.

An official at Crown Automotive confirmed Friday that Wal-Mart has approached the dealership about buying its property to expand the existing Wal-Mart store, which is next door.

In August 2002 the company announced plans for a 200,000-square-foot supercenter at the northwest corner of Sixth Street and Wakarusa Drive.

That plan was denied by Lawrence city commissioners, and the issue now is in litigation. The latest version of those plans call for a 132,000-square-foot store that would not include a grocery department, although the City Commission has blocked that proposal, too.

Morris said the company wouldn’t abandon its efforts on the city’s northwest side, even if the company decided to expand its existing store on the south side.

“We’re pursuing that project because we need a second store in Lawrence and one that is on that side of town,” Morris said. “Nothing has changed those facts.”

Schnaer said he had been in discussions with Wal-Mart for about three months. He said it was too early to tell whether a deal would be struck that would allow the discount retailer to expand.

“If something does happen, I don’t think it would happen anytime soon because it takes awhile to go back and forth,” Schnaer said. “They’re pretty precise in what they do.”

Any deal would be contingent upon Schnaer finding a site to relocate his Chevrolet, Oldsmobile and Toyota dealerships.

“We absolutely are going to stay in the Lawrence market,” Schnaer said. “Our business has been great.”

He declined to speculate about where his business could move, should a deal with Wal-Mart be reached. Others in the real estate community have speculated the dealerships could move into the former Payless Cashways building at 3434 Iowa or pursue a new location south of the South Lawrence Trafficway.

The Crown property is zoned for retail uses, said Sheila Stogsdill, assistant director for the Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Department. That means Wal-Mart officials only would be required to go through the site plan process to expand their building.