Carson City Wal-Mart store plans filed

Wal-Mart will dress up the appearance of its future Carson City supercenter and add an in-store McDonald's and drive-through pharmacy, according to plans filed with the city.

City officials asked the retailer to add special features that would distinguish the store from concrete tilt-up buildings seen in recent retail developments in northern Douglas County.

"It won't look like the one in Douglas County," said Community Development Director Walt Sullivan. "We asked, and received, that it would have special design considerations with different colors and articulation."

But once customers pass beyond the decorative, earth-toned storefront, what they find inside will look fairly familiar.

"It looks pretty standard for a Wal-Mart," said Assistant Planner Kathe Green.

Plans for the 203,000-square-foot store show it facing East College Parkway with an expansive parking lot that will include landscaping, unlike the former store on South Carson Street.

A McDonald's will be built inside the store, as well as a pharmacy with a drive-through window, one-hour photo shop, optical store, garden center, beauty salon and Tire & Lube Express.

More auxiliary retailers may be added once store construction begins, said Wal-Mart spokeswoman Amy Hill.

Wal-Mart architects submitted the stack of plans last week and are anticipating a building permit by August, said Hill. If the project stays on track, the store should open by summer 2005.

The store's loading and receiving area is located next to a residential neighborhood. To cut down on noise, plans call for a 10-foot screen wall along the back side of the building, with another 8-foot wall along the property line. The building will sit 60 to 100 feet from the residential property line.

Table Rock Drive will continue to be blocked from vehicle traffic, allowing pedestrians access from the residential area to a walkway that skirts the east side of the property.

The corporation continues work on building a Supercenter in Fallon, but recent talk about another store emerging in Lyon County/Silver Springs area is just a rumor, Hill said.

Contact Jill Lufrano at jlufrano@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1217.