Wal-Mart land still in flux
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By SCOTT SCHWEBKE
Standard-Examiner staff
sschwebke@standard.net
Purchases haven't been completed, so Ogden supercenter not a done deal
OGDEN -- Problems with the sale of one parcel of land could jeopardize plans for a Wal-Mart Supercenter in downtown Ogden.
Brent Cox, owner of Grating Systems Inc. at 192 W. 20th St., said California developer Gadi Leshem had an agreement to buy the 4-acre parcel where his business sits for $1.1 million by Feb. 13.
However, Leshem failed to meet the deadline, so the land is again up for sale, Cox said.
"I'll pretty much sell it to anyone who is an honest person who is willing to pay me a fair price," said Cox, who keeps a wine glass and an unopened bottle of champagne in his office that he planned to use to celebrate Leshem's purchase of his property.
If Cox can't sell his land, the entire Wal-Mart project will be in jeopardy, said Dave Harmer, the city's community and economic development director.
"We are trying to see what we can work out (to sell the property)" he said. "If we can't, then it (the Wal-Mart project) won't happen."
Leshem is working in conjunction with the city and Wal-Mart on the supercenter development.
According to records on file with the Weber County Assessor's Office, Leshem also has not yet acquired several other business properties needed for the Wal-Mart project, including Boyce Equipment, 226 W. 20th St.; Praxair, 1903 Wall Ave.; and Northern Exposure, 1847 Wall Ave.
Mark Boyce, owner of Boyce Equipment, said Leshem's option to purchase his property expires Friday.
"I have to be optimistic about it," said Boyce, who is hopeful Leshem will follow through on the purchase.
Boyce Equipment is currently building a 16,000-square-foot facility on American Way in Ogden that will open in September.
Eddie Davis, division general manager for Praxair, said the company is in negotiations with Leshem but hasn't entered into a contract to sell him its property.
"We are exploring all the possibilities of what works for him and what works for us," he said.
Representatives for Northern Exposure could not be reached for comment about whether Leshem has a contract to buy that property.
Leshem can't purchase Cox's property because an environmental impact report for the land hasn't been completed, said his spokesman, Alex Auerbach.
However, Leshem still hopes to buy the parcel once the report is finalized, Auerbach said. He was unable to provide specific details about the study.
Cox said Leshem completed an environmental assessment of the property last year.
Efforts are under way to get another developer, whom Harmer declined to identify, to purchase Cox's property for more than $1.1 million. The developer has agreed to cooperate with the Wal-Mart project if the property is bought, Harmer said.
Cox said he hasn't met the developer but has been told by city officials the individual lives in Arizona.
Wal-Mart spokeswoman Karianne Fallow said the company occasionally purchases land without going through a developer.
"It's a case-by-case basis," she said, adding she's unsure whether that could happen with Cox's property.
Wal-Mart officials remain hopeful Cox and Leshem will reach an agreement, she added.
In addition to being upset with Leshem, Cox said he also feels misled by city officials who used purchase options to tie up his property and then encouraged him to move to a new location in West Haven.
"They enticed me to move," said Cox, who found it odd that officials with the city's community and economic development department showed him property outside Ogden. "It's pitiful the way it happened."
Cox said he spent about $2 million to build a 33,000-square-foot facility on 2.5 acres on Scott Lane in West Haven because he believed Leshem's purchase of the West 20th Street property was imminent.
The city didn't entice Grating Systems to specifically relocate to West Haven but wanted the company to move so that cleanup of the Ogden River could take place, Harmer said.
The firm's ability to remain in the city is limited because of a lack of available land, he said.
Cox said the city first obtained a purchase option from him for the property in November 2006. The city extended the option three times and paid $10,000 in earnest money, but never closed on the purchase because it didn't have the funds, he said.
When the Ogden Redevelopment Agency assigned the option agreement to Leshem in September, that deal called for him to pay $1.1 million for the land and $89,000 to relocate Grating Systems to its new West Haven site, Cox said.
The agreement also required Leshem to pay $100,000 in nonrefundable earnest money, Cox said.
He added that Leshem initially refused to release the money from an escrow account and instead offered to let him borrow the funds at 2 percent interest.
"He wanted to loan me my own money," Cox said, noting the earnest money was finally paid Feb. 15 by Leshem after Mayor Matthew Godfrey intervened.
Cox is anxious to sell his property so the Wal-Mart project can move forward, but is reluctant to do any more business with Leshem.
"He's into doing options and playing games," Cox said. "I'm not a game player."
Cox is also perturbed that city officials keep touting the 16-acre Wal-Mart project at the northwest corner of 20th Street and Wall Avenue as a done deal.
"They keep saying Wal-Mart is coming to town, when my property has never been sold," he said.
The Ogden Planning Commission has approved site plans for the proposed 148,769-square-foot supercenter, and the city council has agreed to abandon part of a former street, provided Leshem can assemble all the properties necessary for the project to move forward.
Work on the Wal-Mart was initially slated to begin later this summer and be completed in late 2009 or early 2010.
However, the start of construction has been pushed back to October 2009 because soil at the site requires environmental cleanup.
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