Wal-Mart Plans 1.1 Million Square Foot Distribution Center in Southern California

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). Wal-Mart Stores, Incorporated (NYSE: WMT) (Bentonville, Arkansas) is preparing final specifications for a new general merchandising distribution center in Apple Valley, California.

Carter & Burgess Incorporated (Fort Worth, Texas) will provide architecture/engineering design services for the massive 1.1 million square foot building that will be located at Johnson Road and Dale Evans Parkway in Apple Valley, some 70 miles northeast of Los Angeles.

Project costs are estimated to be in the $40 million range.

Construction is scheduled to begin in September of this year and the building should be ready for occupancy by March or April of 2003.

The single-story distribution center will be outfitted with automated inventory control systems, high rack storage systems, and multiple truck loading docks. Office areas and maintenance shops for truck repairs will also be included.

An estimated 850 full and part time jobs for the area will also be created.

Jay Brunson, industry manager with Industrialinfo.com who has been tracking construction activities at Wal-Mart since 1997, adds, "The California distribution center is just one of nine new distribution facilities Wal-Mart plans to construct within the next twelve months. That adds up to about $300 million in capital costs and 9.4 million square feet in new construction in just distribution centers alone."

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) had sales in the fiscal year ending January 30, 2001 of $191 billion. They employ over one million associates worldwide through 3,500 facilities in the United States and more than 1,000 units in Mexico, Puerto Rico, Canada, Argentina, Brazil, China, Korea, Germany, and the United Kingdom.