Belleville Walmart Supercenter plans on hold, mayor says

Planning on the proposed 24-hour Walmart Supercenter for the west side of Belleville is now on hold along with dozens of other new Walmart proposals being reviewed across the country, Mayor Mark Eckert told the City Council on Monday night.

Eckert said the city has received information that indicated planning has stopped for the Walmart to be built at the intersection of South 74th Street and Illinois 15 but he has not received information on whether Walmart has permanently shelved the project.

A spokesman from Walmart could not be reached for comment Monday night.

“We’re hoping it’s just on hold,” Eckert said.

Engineers and architects for Walmart have attended various Belleville city meetings since May and secured the necessary city permits for Walmart to build the store.

Ward 3 Alderman Scott Tyler, who asked Eckert for an update, said it was “certainly disappointing” to hear that the Belleville Walmart was on hold.

Rick Rohlfing, a project manager with BFA Engineering in Washington, Missouri, told the city’s Zoning Board of Appeals in May that the Walmart site was undermined and research was ongoing as to how to mitigate the undermining.

“We’ve been working on this project for quite some time now,” Rohlfing told the panel in May.

Because of the amount of work Walmart had done to plan for the store, Eckert said at first he did not think Belleville would be on the list of projects Walmart placed on hold.

The proposed Walmart site is across South 74th Street from the Kmart that closed.

This story was originally published December 4, 2017 at 10:04 PM with the headline "Belleville Walmart Supercenter plans on hold, mayor says."