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A WALMART FOR SOUTH WALTON? Store to downsize lettering as they set sights on West Hewett Road (with POLL)
SANTA ROSA BEACH — Walmart wants to come to South Walton County.
Plans for a new 78,290-square-foot Walmart Supercenter store to be located on the northwest corner of U.S. Highway 98 and West Hewett Road have been submitted to Walton County. The proposal has received its first board approval.
“They’re in the application process right now,” said Gerry Demers, Walton County’s director of development services.
Walton County’s Design Review Board approved plans for the new Walmart at their meeting last week, Demers said. While the plans were approved, Walmart must return to the Design Review Board because of a complication with the store sign on the face of the building.
“The lettering on the building is a lot larger than what we normally allow. They either need to get that request approved or they’re going to have to downsize it.”
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Walton County’s next Design Review Board meeting will take place next month.
The new Walmart will be part of the larger Topsail West development, whose conceptual plans were approved by Walton County commissioners earlier this year. The St. Joe Co. has designated 116 acres in South Walton for the Topsail West development, which is proposed to include more than 308,000 square feet of retail space, 5,000 square feet of office space, 190 senior-living units, 110 assisted-living units and 310 multi-family units, according to previous reports.
Topsail West is expected to be built in phases, with the final phase not expected to be completed until 2020. Information was not available Monday on how long Walmart’s application process would take or when construction could be expected to start.
For residents and tourists staying in South Walton, the closest Walmarts in the area now are in DeFuniak Springs, Des-tin and Panama City Beach.
Representatives from St. Joe and Walmart’s corporate office did not return messages seeking comment on this story.
