Wal-Mart Stores, which several years ago shelved plans to build a new supercenter in Southeast Raleigh, has closed on the remaining land where the store was to be located.
Last week, the retail giant paid $1.5 million for nearly six acres at Rock Quarry and Sunnybrook roads, according to Wake County property records.
While the purchase could be an indication that Wal-Mart is reviving the project, that seems unlikely.
Officials with the retailer didn't return calls seeking comment.
The seller, Raleigh developer Granite Development, has been involved in a nearly two-year legal battle with Wal-Mart over a joint development agreement the parties signed during better economic times.
Granite claimed the retailer owed it more than $75,000 for violating the agreement, which called for Granite and Wal-Mart to share about $2 million in road and traffic work on the site.
Granite purchased the 32-acre site in 2006 for $2.95 million. The Shoppes at Sunnybrook project was to include a 220,000-square-foot supercenter and about 38,000 square feet of additional retail space.
Wal-Mart paid $5.3 million for 26 acres in January 2007. But shortly thereafter the economy worsened and consumers stopped spending.
Wal-Mart put the brakes on more than a hundred new stores, including the one in Southeast Raleigh.
In what surely is not a coincidence, Wal-Mart's recent purchase of the remaining Sunnybrook land coincided with Granite settling its lawsuit with the retailer.
Kieran Shanahan, the Raleigh lawyer who represented Granite, confirmed the settlement but said the details were confidential.
Wal-Mart has continued to expand in other parts of the Triangle even as it has backed away from some projects. In October, it will open a store in Durham.
Wal-Mart's stated formula for determining which stores to cut was based on land cost, construction cost and site improvements.
The best indication that the retailer isn't planning a new store in Southeast Raleigh is a large for-sale sign posted along Sunnybrook Road.
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