UPDATED: Major south-side development nabs Sam’s Club

The James River Commons development – in the works for nearly three years – will be anchored by Springfield’s second Sam’s Club location, which will comprise 135,000 square feet and feature a fuel station, car wash, pharmacy, optical center, one-hour photo center, expanded café and a tire and battery center. Sam’s Club is a division of Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

The project’s developers are Columbia-based The Kroenke Group and Springfield-based Ron Stenger Cos., who together purchased the 80-acre plot next to The Library Center in January 2005. Speculation of a Wal-Mart at the site surfaced because Kroenke Group is a known Wal-Mart developer. Owner Stan Kroenke is married to Ann Walton Kroenke, niece of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton.

In addition to the free-standing Sam’s, James River Commons will have another 150,000 square feet of retail space, according to Stu Stenger with Ron Stenger Cos. About four or five outlots will be available for restaurants, banks and other similar tenants, he said.

The developers are still determining the project’s cost. No other tenants have been named.

“At James River and Campbell, it’s right in the heart of the growth area,” Stenger said. “Once you have an anchor like Sam’s Club signed up, the other (tenants) are more likely to commit because they’re just a large traffic generator.”

Sam’s Club’s first Springfield location, 3660 E. Sunshine St., opened in 1987. Thum said the store’s members have expressed strong interest in a second store.

“We’ve been getting questions for about two or three years about ‘When is the second club coming?’” Thum said. “Our members there in Springfield have done such a great job supporting the club … and we’re very confident that Springfield can support a second Sam’s Club.”

A unique side to the new store will be its environmentally sustainable elements, including energy-efficient lighting in freezer cases, motion-sensor lighting on freezers and coolers, more than 200 skylights and an improved daylight-harvesting system, a closed-loop CO2 secondary refrigeration system in freezer cases and a closed-loop secondary glycol system in chilled sections, a water-reclaiming system at the car wash, and recycling services for tires, batteries, cardboard, single-use cameras, food waste, plastic waste and building materials.

Typical Sam’s stores employ about 300, according to Thum.

While the new center is built, renovations will begin at the Sunshine store. The store will be repainted and receive new fixtures and a general upgrade in both appearance and features. Remodeling is set to begin early next year and be finished by late fall.[[In-content Ad]]