Retail Giant's 1.25-Mil SF Distribution Center Awakens Sleepy North Texas Town

SANGER, TX-The paperwork’s beginning to annex a 1.25-million sf Wal-Mart distribution center project into Sanger city limits in a pre-construction pact with the Bentonville, AR-based retailer that brings up to 950 jobs and $310,000 annually in real estate taxes to the rural community.

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.