A slow economy forced the company to push back the Lewiston center opening to August 2005.
By Scott Taylor
Staff Writer

LEWISTON – Blaming a weak national economy, Wal-Mart is asking for another year before it begins construction on its Lewiston distribution center.

Work was originally scheduled to begin this month and wrap up in April 2004. The company pushed back its timeline last month, planning to open the center in September 2004.

That delay was blamed on design changes.

Mia Mastan, Wal-Mart community affairs manager, blamed the latest delay on the economy.

“We’re not opening new stores as quickly as we planned,” Mastan said. “The distribution centers we have in place can serve the existing stores adequately.”

Construction on the 485,000-square-foot food distribution center is now scheduled to be finished in August 2005. The center is expected to employ about 350 people when it is up and running.

“The only impact on the city, however, is that we won’t have the new jobs,” Development Director Greg Mitchell said Friday.

According to the agreement the company signed with the city last year, Wal-Mart agreed to begin paying property taxes in April 2004, whether or not the center was finished. That amounts to about $1 million in new revenue for the city.

“That still holds true,” Mitchell said. “They will still pay those taxes according to the original schedule.”

City officials have taken the opportunity to renegotiate the agreement with Wal-Mart. Under the terms of the new agreement, Wal-Mart will pay the city and the state for all expenses associated with the project if the company never completes the work. Those expenses include moving the city’s gravel operation, relocating Plourde Parkway and relocating water, sewer and other utilities.

That amounts to about $7 million in expenses that the company would pay.

“I don’t think it will ever come to that,” Mitchell said. “I am completely confident that Wal-Mart will begin work next year and that it will wrap up on time.”

The center is still critical for the company in New England, Mitchell siad. “It’s not a question of if it will happen. It’s just a question of when it will be finished.”

Mitchell is scheduled to present the new agreement to the City Council at 7 p.m. Monday.

City officials unveiled the original agreement just before Christmas 2001. According to the terms, the company would invest $45 million in the project by April 1, 2004. In exchange, Wal-Mart would get a tax incentive package of nearly $17 million over the next 20 years.

Wal-Mart had 3,362 stores nationwide in 2002, including Super Centers and Sam’s Clubs. Those stores were supplied by a network of 72 distribution centers, including 20 for groceries.

Three of the company’s distribution centers are in New York and one is in New Hampshire. The Lewiston center would be the second New England grocery warehouse.

staylor@sunjournal.com