Developer Drops Wal-Mart Store from Queens, NY Mall Plans

REGO PARK, NY--Wal-Mart is still exploring other sites for its first store in New York City after a large real estate developer was rebuffed in its efforts to include a Wal-Mart store in a new shopping complex in the borough of Queens.

According to reports, Vornado Realty Trust, has abandoned the possibility of including a 132,000-square-foot store in its Queens development, projected to open in 2008, after opposition from neighborhood, labor, and environmental groups, small businesses in the area, and local politicians.

The chairwoman of the City Council’s Land Use Committee told the New York Times that a representative from the developer told her that Vornado was no longer negotiating with Wal-Mart to be part of the new mall. “I think they just decided it's not worth the complications of having Wal-Mart,” said Melinda Katz. "The idea of Wal-Mart was overshadowing what could very well be a good project.”

An unnamed executive at Vornado told The Times that the company originally hoped city planning officials would approve the project before it before it became publicly known that Wal-Mart was involved. But once the retailer’s participation became public, the opposition rallied, and the fight was shaping up to be the biggest battle against a single store in the city's history, according to The Times.

For its part, Wal-Mart noted that it had never signed a formal deal with the developer to be included in the complex. A spokeswoman for the retailer said Wal-Mart is still interested in opening stores in New York City and is exploring several sites throughout the city’s five boroughs.

It was not known whether Vornado dropped Wal-Mart from the project or whether the retailer bowed out voluntarily. As a possible foreshadowing of what the developer and Wal-Mart would have faced, just two weeks ago, the City Council’s Land Use Committee voted unanimously to block a B.J.’s Wholesale Club in the Bronx.

Of course, if shoppers had a vote, the outcome might have been different. Several shoppers interviewed by The Times in the Rego Park neighborhood where the Wal-Mart would have been built said they were disappointed that the discount retailer would not be coming to town. Queens residents current have to travel to Long Island to shop Wal-Mart’s low prices.