Jack Smith, Sanger's city manager, tells GlobeSt.com the pact bars any tax collection prior to completion, which is anticipated in June or July. Consequently, city officials do not want the project listed on its tax rolls come Jan. 1, 2001, the date used to pro-rate tax bills on the basis of what is completed. Wal-Mart is walking away with a $156,000 per year tax abatement for 10 years in exchange for the promise of 650 jobs initially and another 300 by the end of five years, says Smith.

Rumor has it that Wal-Mart had bought the acreage for about $8,000 per acre from Dr. Edward Wolski. "That's the rumor," says Smith, calculating that same acreage in Denton or Dallas could fetch as much as $40,000 per acre for the seller.

The center, estimated to cost up to $80 million, is bringing jobs, revenue and additional growth to the town situated along Interstate 35 just 53 miles north of Dallas. Some 3,000 acres are being developed to construct a $1.7-billion golf course retirement community about four miles south of the Wal-Mart project while eight other residential projects--some with commercial and multifamily components--are being planned in the immediate vicinity of Wal-Mart's 63rd US distribution site.