The Wal-Mart Challenge

The Wal-Mart Challenge

By Kevin J. Allen

OSPREY OBSERVER

Bringing Wal-Mart to town isn't easy.

A new store might have some benefits, such as increasing the employment base and providing low costs for hundreds of goods, from tires to toothpaste.

But a new Wal-Mart comes with headaches, too. There is the normal fights developers face, such as convincing the town the increased traffic will be manageable and going through the permitting maze. But Wal-Mart - and a Supercenter, to boot - comes with some extra baggage. As a one of the country's most dominant retailers, the company has seen a barrage of criticism come it's way recently, on topics from how it treats employees to whether the company is anti-competitive, putting mom-and-pop stores out of business.

So when someone sets out to get Wal-Mart to come to an area, there is likely to be a fight. Gulf Coast developer Henry Rodriquez was undaunted, though, and after a four-year process, in early 2004, he got Wal-Mart. He sold 27 acres of a former dilapidated building site along U.S. 41 in Osprey to the Bentonville, Ark.-based retail giant. The Wal-Mart Supercenter opened to large crowds in October.

Rodriquez spoke with reporter Kevin J. Allen form the Osprey Observer, sister paper of Gulf Coast Business Review. Here are excerpts of the interview:

Why Wal-Mart? Why Osprey?

I came from the technology industry. I first started my business career with an anti-shoplifting company with the tags that go on clothing. I sold that back in 1993. Then I started a telecommunications company and we sold that to a conglomerate back in 1998.

Then I went to Casey Key and I started building high-end homes. One of the reasons why I got involved with Osprey is because Osprey is the front door of everyone's community. Whether you live in Southbay, Casey Key, the Village of Osprey; whether you live in Nokomis, you've got to drive through that area.

If you think about what really was happening is you had exactly 37 moldy, decrepit, falling-down 'For Sale' signs. It wasn't unusual for Osprey to have property selling at $5 a square foot three years ago. As a matter of fact, it was predominant. The land I bought was vacant for 20 years. It had a golf range, a building that was dilapidated over 20 years of ill use. So, when we went to the community, we tried to get every major anchor to come to Osprey. They all said "no."

When I was doing my due diligence, I went to the previous developer who got a section of this property rezoned for what was going to be a Winn-Dixie shopping center at one time. The community was clamoring for a supermarket. This particular gentleman said, "Don't even touch that site. Osprey will never ever be able to support any type of commerce." To a certain extent, I understand his line of reasoning. He thought it wasn't enough of a town. Thank God we have a park like Oscar Scherer; thank God we have Spanish Point. We also have the low density of The Oaks.

That's not enough roof tops in a two-mile radius in order to attract a local, neighborhood market.

Therefore, we had to go to a larger area and bring in a destination location to Osprey because, if not, it would never work.

Then we scratched our heads. The community desperately wanted a supermarket and the community asked how that would be possible. It had to be either Target Supercenter or Wal-Mart Supercenter. Wal-Mart Supercenter was the one.

How did you get the attention of Wal-Mart's corporate office?

Interestingly enough, I didn't use a Realtor or anything. I just put a little package together. I didn't know anything about commercial real estate at the time, so I put a package together, sent it to [Wal-Mart headquarters] and they called me. It was like a casting audition.

When you first looked at the dilapidated property, how did you see its potential?

Thirty years ago, I was down in Miami Beach. My father was a maintenance man, my mother was a seamstress. We came from a very poor background from an economic point of view. I was traveling with my father down Miami Beach and I saw this horrible, decrepit area and I said, at about 10 years old, "This is a great place. It's next to the beach. It looks terrible, but for $350,000 can't we buy this hotel?" I'm sure thousands of people thought the same thing.

Flash forward 30 years, and I'm singing the same song. It's next to the beach. It's blighted. The Board of County Commissioners had the vision to put in the Osprey Revitalization Plan, it's in my front yard, so I said, "Why not take a crack at it?"

How long was the process from buying the first parcel to closing on the last parcel of land?

Three and a half years. There were 35 different parcels owned by about 20 different people. I bought parcels as small as 10,000 square feet!

You finally get all the parcels you need. Then what?

It's a far more simple story than most people think. I didn't have a grandiose vision of what was going to happen in Osprey.

I bought the first piece of property and I didn't know what I was going to do with the land. I just knew that this land was one day going to be a good investment and a place the community could really be proud of. That we could do something there instead of having 20 years of "For Sale" signs and a dilapidated building.

When I sent the package to Wal-Mart, they said I needed 25 acres. I just started calling on the person next door, then the person next door to him. Initially, there wasn't a person in Osprey that didn't have their property for sale. Initially, everybody wanted to sell their property. Initially, it was five parcels at 27 acres.

How did you first try to "sell" the idea of Wal-Mart to the community?

It's kind of a weird thing what happened. I sent the Federal Express package, and I called up the Real Estate Assistant at Wal-Mart in Bentonville. I said I had a piece of property in Osprey, and she knew where Osprey was. At that point, I was wondering what the deal was, and maybe they were interested in the area. About three months later, they put a verbal offer on the property and it took us about seven months to negotiate it.

What has your experience been working with the Sarasota County Board of County Commissioners?

I think we happen to have a wonderful, well-practiced commission. In fact, Sarasota County is acknowledged throughout the state as having one of the most progressive counties in terms of land planning and encouraging infill and redevelopment and discouraging suburban sprawl.

The Board of County Commissioners has realized that we need to start revitalizing these old communities. What they've done is they've created these revitalization plans. If it weren't for the Osprey Revitalization Plan, nothing would have changed.