Florissant Walmart Plans Enter Next Phase to Become Reality

Although the proposed Walmart development got another approval from Florissant City Council recently, it will still be a bit of time before the store is fully up and running.

THF Florissant has begun the next phase of making the popular retailer a reality in town, but it doesn’t involve tractors and excavators just yet.

Jeff Otto, a representative of THF Florissant, said that with the city’s approval, the realty company is working on getting the proper permitting for the site. Otto said that THF is working on permits from Metropolitan Sewer District, the Army Corps of Engineers and the City of Florissant Engineer Tim Barrett.

For the site, each organization holds an important role in the development of the site at 3350 and 3400 North Highway 67 and 3605 Seville. The Army Corps of Engineers has jurisdiction over wetlands, which would pertain to the site and getting proper permitting for the site. MSD would grant THF permitting for water quality compliance for the drainage system, and the City of Florissant manages the floodplain for the site, which would go through Barrett’s office.

Otto said he doesn’t expect that the development proposal would have to come back to the City Council.

Last year, through a geotechnical study of the site, it was discovered that the store would have to be rotated to the west from where originally planned. With the rotation, that caused the site’s development to change and have to reapproved through the City Council. The Council originally approved the site’s development plan April 2012.

Otto said that each the permitting process takes five to six months concurrently, with the hope that at the end of the year, THF Florissant will close on the property. The realty company is currently under contract with St. Louis Bank, who owns the property through foreclosure.

If all goes expected, the land will begin to be cleared in early 2014, Otto said.

Otto said he can’t speak for Walmart representatives, but he said that the store could take anywhere from 12-15 months from that point to be constructed and completed.

To check out other articles related to Walmart, see: 

• Walmart Gains Florissant City Council Approval for Second Time