Wal-Mart Closes on Purchase of Roseville Property

Giant discounter Wal-Mart has closed on buying a 14-acre parcel of land for a proposed 160,000 square-foot store in Roseville's Twin Lakes area. 

Wal-Mart completed the purchase last Friday with Roseville Properties Management Co., which declined to disclose terms of the deal.

The real estate transaction paves the way for Wal-Mart to break groound on the project. "I don’t have an exact timetable for when they will be starting work but I would think they would begin sometime in May," said Pat Trudgeon, Roseville director of community development. 

Wal-Mart recently applied for a building permit; Trudgeon said the city has that request under review. 

The big-box shop would be built on a site that is bounded by County Road C, Cleveland Avenue, Twin Lakes Parkway and Prior Avenue.  

"They (Wal-Mart) now own the land,"  Mark Rancone, vice-president at Roseville Properties Management, said today (Wednesday).

Racone said closing on the land sale was a bit anti-climatic for his company, which has been sought redevelopment of thea area for more than a decade. "We are just glad to get it ( the land sale) done" he said. 

The site was once proposed for a Costco, but that plan ran into legal troubles. Unfortunately, the delays in development "have cost the city of Roseville millions of dollars in (tax) revenue,"  Rancone contended.  

Wal-Mart's imminent ground-breaking and arrival in Roseville has been controversial. The City Council last year was divided 3-2 on granting the discounter final plat approval and a citizens group unsuccessfully challenged the project. 

Among some citizens' objections to the Wal-Mart store is that it is going to create traffic congestion, cirme and doesn't fit the Twin Lakes neighborhood. 

As part of winning City Council approval, Wal-Mart has agreed- on a voluntary basis—to hire an off-duty police officer for three 8-hour days a week to help reduce the Roseville Police Department’s shoplifting calls for service.

To read other stories about the proposed Roseville Wal-Mart, click on to these reports: 

Environmental Exemption Granted for Roseville Wal-Mart Store Despite Citizens Group's Request  

Proposed Roseville Wal-Mart Store Gets Final Approval 

Wal-Mart to Hire Off-Duty Officers for Roseville Store 

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