Are they still building that Wal Mart at northcros

If so, do you think it will have a negative or positive effect on real estate values?

 

Yeah its still going up...Im pretty sure it will raise property value and the apts around there will jack up their prices...

 

If it raises their property value, why are people complaining?

I used to live at Steck and Mesa, not far from there and I never went to Northcross. Only a few times to that old Oshmans (long gone).

Wasn't Northcross a "mixed use" space? There were offices in there, a movie theatre, ice rink, Hooters, some other restaurant after Hooters, stores... it didn't work. I like how the people who opposed the new WalMart wanted a "mixed use" project. Why? It didn't work.

 

I never really understood the opposition to WalMart. That site has been a dumpy shopping mall for decades -- how many people in the neighborhood actually moved in before Northcross Mall was built?

It's not like WalMart is any trashier than most businesses in the area. I seriously doubt it will have a negative effect on property values.

 

as far as I can tell, here are a couple reasons people don't like it...

NIMBY - there is a stigma around walmart. Let's be honest, it has a "white trash-y" reputation. Walmart's demo is lower income folks. Right or wrong, homeowners don't want that in their neighborhood

Traffic flow - valid concern. Walmarts are gigantic, and the increased traffic flow into an already congested area could be a nightmare

at the end of the day I doubt Walmart has much of a direct impact on prices (up or down)

 

<thread doomed for west mall>

the actual design they are using is pretty sharp. if they stick to that, it will be a pretty shnazzy place. one other thing is that there isn't going to be much 'whiskey tango' <white trash> in that area before too long with how expensive central austin is getting.

 

Oh god. Not another Northcross Walmart thread.

Let me sum it up : The neighborhood didn't want a Walmart there because Walmarts attract trashy people. They can't argue that, so they cited traffic, environmental, and other concerns.

The place was a dump, but the neighborhood really wanted a true mixed us development like the Triangle to be developed there. That is the future of Austin...

 

good summation. I had to laugh when I saw another Walmart @ Northcross thread.

 

That summary was spot on.

But the neighbors didn't care and had no ******* clue what they wanted there or they would have jumped on it at some point during the previous 10 years that the place was a festering ********. It wasn't until Wal Mart announced that the neighbors worried about traffic woes.

Along with not being able to use the white trash argument, they manufactured the traffic argument as well. As has been discussed, had a greater traffic generating Whole Foods been put in, the neighbors would have danced in the streets.

 

I live 2 blocks away and I simply don't care either way. But, yes, construction is underway and the wackjobs are still thinking they can stop it.

 

Kudos, Gak!

 

So what was the official outcome of the trial that was held in November?
I live in the immediate neighborhood and am ready for the bulldozers to start rolling.

 

i believe its officially going in. i know the apartment complex/extended (in condo conversion process) stay place directly south of northcross is getting some minor concessions from wal mart. they are putting up a huge hedge row and maybe some type of fence for them. only a matter of time now.

 

Gak, I'm honestly interested in your thoughts -- who is forcing the WalMart down neighbors' throats? The landowner? WalMart?

I don't understand the backlash against WalMart when the area has been littered with crap like ChuckECheese, Ross, Darque Tan, an empty dilapidated former Post Office, etc. for years. Hoping for change seems reasonable, but it's not exactly a matter of law. It's a free country.

 

jimmy, wal mart mostly, but generally speaking, everyone involved in allowing it to happen

i get what you are saying and can understand that perspective, but nobody goes to any of those other ****** places you mentioned. i've never seen more than a dozen cars in the parking lot of any of those places. i get your point, but its not really a fair comparison. none of those other dumps bring people by the thousands that the wal mart will attract from miles around

look a the recent development on the other side of burnet, starting at 45th stret going north. nice places, and they are successful. it was my hope that this kind of development would continue to move north up burnet and take over some of the older junk thats there now. of course, it wouldn't ever be completely changed, but every bit helps. wal mart is a step in the opposite, wrong direction. i am not saying the place should sit empty as a failed mall forever, but f**k wal mart

and while i'm concerned about the traffic associated with it, i'm looking forward to seeing how the development at the hunstman land on the other side of me and to the north turns out

sure, its a free country. but why go to a place where no one around you wants you there? unless you're po1d that is

 

I can certainly understand the desire to have something more akin to The Triangle in that space. My guess is that WalMart knows that it will be a draw from a distance that far exceeds the local neighborhood, and so from a business perspective, being "unwanted" doesn't really matter all that much.

What's the Huntsman reference about? Are you talking about the area around the Infiniti dealership or somewhere else?

 

huntsman development

yes, wal mart will draw the trash from miles around. i would estimate that a huge majority of their customers will be people who do not live in the immediate vicinity. i have not talked to a single person in my area who says they will ever set foot in there

and yes, wal mart doesn't care one bit about what any of their neighbors think or whether they are wanted there, and that is a big part of why they ******* suck

 

I don't necessarily agree that traffic will skyrocket because of that WalMart. The mall sits on a fairly huge tract of land, and the traffic concerns were presumably taken into account when the mall was built.

If you filled that area with retail density like you see in the surrounding 1-mile radius, I would think the traffic effects would be similar.

 

Not to mention that the traffic there has plenty of room to increases without becoming congested.

 

I have nothing to add to the argument for or against a Walmart, except to say that if you took the amount of money I spent at the old arcade at Northcross (and the older one before that across the rink) and multiplied it by the number of phone numbers I got from girls ice skating there in the early to mid '80s, it would be quite a large number.

Bought a pair of the original Air Jordan's there at Footlocker. Ate a ton a free samples from Lammes Candies. Got my last name printed on the back of a lot of little league jerseys at T-Shirts Plus. Watched the Rocky Horror Picture Show at midnight in that theater more than a handful of times. Ate my hot dog in the airplane table inside Weinerschnitzel out in the Northcross parking lot where Sonic is now.

I miss Northcross. It was a happening place during my childhood.

 

I figure it'll work out about like the one in Plano that no one said they would shop at and then did record-breaking business.