Sams Club Completes $12.4M Land Purchase For Springdale Location
A new Sam’s Club warehouse in Springdale is a step closer to development with the completion of two land deals totaling $12.4 million.
According to Washington County property records filed March 2, Sam’s Club, a division of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., now owns 70.4 acres on South 56th Street near U.S. Highway 412. The location is just west of Interstate 49 near Arvest Ballpark.
Sam’s Club bought 67.5 acres for $11.7 million, and an adjacent 2.9-acre parcel for $700,000.
The total price equates to $176,148 per acre.
The seller in both deals was the Shaw family of Springdale, led by businessmen Bobby and Dennis Shaw. They are the sons of the late Willis Shaw, an Arkansas Business Hall of Fame member who pioneered the transportation of live poultry and in 1938 founded what became the Willis Shaw Express Inc. trucking company in Elm Springs. Shaw died April 20 at Circle of Life Hospice in Springdale. He was 95.
Sam’s Club, the country’s eighth largest retailer, announced its plans for a 136,000-SF warehouse club last August during a news conference at Arvest Ballpark. It is hoped that the new shopping destination will spur increased retail development in Springdale’s western border near the park, a 7,500-seat minor-league baseball stadium that opened in April 2008.
To accommodate that anticipated growth and to provide better traffic flow, Springdale is widening two-lane 56th Street between the Don Tyson Parkway and Highway 412.
The Don Tyson Parkway exit off Interstate 49 opened in July, making it easier for I-49 travelers to reach Arvest Ballpark.
The Springdale store will create approximately 175 jobs and open in the spring of 2016. It will be the third in Northwest Arkansas, joining locations in Bentonville and Fayetteville.
The project has been approved by the Springdale Planning Commission, but Walmart has yet to submit its construction plans.
Erica Jones, a senior communications spokesperson for Walmart, said the company has not finalized a timeline to begin construction.