Walmart entrusted CEI with this challenging, onsite relocation project, which was managed out of our Pennsylvania office with design assistance from our Bentonville, AR office. The relocated new store is a 186,000-square foot supercenter, which replaced an old Division 1 store. CEI’s responsibilities included due diligence investigation, civil engineering, landscape architecture, local and state permitting, construction observation, and a lot of coordination.
In order to construct the new supercenter, Walmart purchased the adjacent property to the north, which previously housed a car dealership. The existing Division 1 store had to remain in operation throughout the entire project with minimal disruptions. At its closest point, the new store was built within 10 feet of the existing store. In order to construct the improvements associated with the new store, the construction had to be broken into multiple phases and sub phases. CEI designed an area for a temporary truck dock, which was used throughout construction of the new store so that deliveries to the existing store could continue without being impeded. Once the new store became operational, customers were shuttled from the existing parking lot around the demolition area for the existing store and to the new supercenter.
Aside from the intense phasing coordination, there were some other site challenges. Due to an irate neighbor threatening to sue Walmart, stormwater for this development had to be handled through an onsite infiltration pond, which by design is capable of infiltrating the full runoff from a 100-year storm event. CEI also designed a sanitary sewer lift station to convey the sewage into the public system.
In order to save money, CEI recommended that portions of the existing parking lot be milled and overlaid rather than being fully removed and replaced. This option saved Walmart approximately $250,000.