Business
Contractor to work overnight to complete parking lot at new Wal-Mart
This aerial photograph shows recent progress on the Wal-Mart that's being built at the northwest corner of Sixth Street and Wakarusa Drive. Seal-O-Matic Paving Co. Inc. plans to extend its workdays on the supercenter's parking lot by 12 hours, from 5 p.m. to 5 a.m.
November 10, 2008
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Construction at the site of a new Wal-Mart Supercenter in northwest Lawrence soon could be going around the clock.
Seal-O-Matic Paving Co. Inc. plans to extend its work day to include 5 p.m. to 5 a.m., excluding Sundays, the contractor said in a mailing to nearby property owners. Plans call for the new schedule to begin today and extend to Nov. 21.
"Due to weather-related circumstances, we will be expediting the installation of the asphalt paving construction," the company said, cautioning that inclement weather could force changes to the schedule. "During this process all noise levels will be kept to a minimum."
Seal-O-Matic, of Riverside, Mo., is working on the new supercenter's expansive parking lot at the northwest corner of Sixth Street and Wakarusa Drive. The contractor's written notification of nearby residents came at the request of city officials.
Scott McCullough, the city's director of planning and development services, noted that contractors approached his department early on about the potential for operating beyond normal working hours. Seal-O-Matic wants to get the parking lot installed before asphalt plants close for the winter.
After determining that overnight work would not violate city code, McCullough said, his department requested that Seal-O-Matic send out information about its accelerated schedule as a courtesy.
"Obviously, with this level of project - the size, the scope - we're glad they've sent the notice," McCullough said. "We're glad they can get the job heading toward completion."
Also beneficial, he said, at least so far: "We haven't heard any noise complaints during the day, when they're out there. We don't anticipate any at night."
Construction of the new 100,000-square-foot supercenter started last summer, and Wal-Mart has anticipated the store's opening to come in late spring or early summer 2009. Wal-Mart's building permit calls for construction valued at $9.5 million.
The project started after being tied up in court battles for about five years.
Wal-Mart officials had announced in August 2002 that they would build a 200,000-square-foot supercenter at the northwest corner of Sixth and Wakarusa, and neighbors quickly lined up to oppose the project as being too big for the intersection, which they argued would not be able to handle the anticipated traffic.
Lawrence city commissioners, at the time, sided with neighbors, and developers found themselves taking the city to court. Then, in April 2007, city residents voted - within days of the scheduled start of the trial - to change the majority on the Lawrence city commission, and settlement talks began.
Soon, the two sides had settled on the smaller supercenter, one that Wal-Mart plans to operate with general merchandise, grocery items and many other offerings already available at Wal-Mart's other supercenter across town.
The existing supercenter, which covers about 200,000 square feet, is at 3300 Iowa St.
More like this
- 6News video: Developers still pursuing Wal-Mart August 6, 2007
- Wal-Mart expected to draw businesses to west Lawrence 48 comments / September 2, 2008
- Wal-Mart expansion OK'd May 5, 2005
- Store wins final OK 177 comments / January 9, 2008
- Wal-Mart to try again December 4, 2002
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10 November 2008
at 9:51 p.m.
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Ragingbear (Anonymous) says…
Mr. Ranger isn't gonna like this Yogi.
10 November 2008
at 9:52 p.m.
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justme2 (Anonymous) says…
Hey Steve, what if this happened to one of your sisters? Would you still be laughing?
10 November 2008
at 9:53 p.m.
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justme2 (Anonymous) says…
Oops! Wrong story!
10 November 2008
at 10:20 p.m.
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frwent (Anonymous) says…
Seal-O-Matic Paving Co. Inc.????? Sounds a bit like the old Bob Newhart joke, “Grace L. Ferguson Airline and Storm Door Co.” Are these guys for real? Is this yet another branch of the “MT Bus Co.”???????? Wonder how long before the lot will need re-paving??
11 November 2008
at 4:54 a.m.
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mike_blur (Mike Blur) says…
justme2 and others who have inadvertently crossposted on JW threads, how the heck could it happen? My only thinking is you have multiple JW tabs open. If that's the case, you seriously need some time away from the computer.
11 November 2008
at 5:28 a.m.
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Informed (Anonymous) says…
Did we ever hear a final dollar amount for how much the city had to pay in attorneys' fees and court costs for trying to block this Wal-Mart? How much of our tax money? I wonder if it would have been more than enough to fund the T for a while without needing a tax increase? Probably.
11 November 2008
at 8:11 a.m.
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BigPrune (Anonymous) says…
The only ones privy to that information are at City Hall and the JW would probably not want to rock the boat by releasing this information if they requested it.My question to the JW is: What is going on with the gigantic apartment complex under construction on 31st Street (the one behind Kohl's)? I haven't seen anything done on that since the financial crisis hit. Did the developer or their bank run out of money?
11 November 2008
at 8:41 a.m.
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Esq2eB (Anonymous) says…
Justme,Someone once paved my sister well into the night, and Pa and I were not too happy about it! Chased him down the road whoppin and hollerin'.
11 November 2008
at 3:45 p.m.
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KUweatherman (Curtis Lange) says…
BigPrune, do you not go that way often? Work is moving a long down there. It was fun maneuvering around the 18 wheelers the other day who were delivering wood to the site.
11 November 2008
at 4:36 p.m.
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ralphralph (Anonymous) says…
I'd be really pissed if they paved my sisters' parking lot at night!
11 November 2008
at 5:50 p.m.
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Multidisciplinary (Anonymous) says…
justme2I only scrolled to see your first comment, and was thinking, “Steve??!?!?!”, so I went back to scan it again.Then your next post,,hehe..