The Niagara Falls Planning Board has given its approval to a site plan proposal that will add more than 6,000 square feet of storage and customer pick-up space to the Walmart store on the 1500 block of Military Road.
The city board’s action follows a similar approval by the Niagara County Planning Board on Monday. Both the approvals were unanimous.
The proposed expansion and updating of signage and other infrastructure on the site is the first significant change to the supercenter since it relocated to Military Road in 2014.
Mathew Vranjes, a project manager with Colliers Engineering & Design, told the planning board that the expansion of Walmart’s Military Road operations is designed to “centralize pick-up operations in a dedicated area.”
“It’s designed to make the whole (pick-up) process as efficient as possible,” Vranjes said.
The project calls for the addition of a vestibule and storage space on the north side of the building and the addition of 20 canopy-covered parking spaces to 18 current spaces for customers picking up pre-ordered goods. The parking spaces are also on the north side of the building.
The new vestibule and storage area will add 6,421 square feet to the store’s existing 202,549 square feet of space at 1540 Military Road.
The proposal also calls for “associated grading, striping and signage improvements” and adding two new light poles on the 18.3-acre site. In addition to the Walmart store, the site is home to an affiliated Sam’s Club location.
Vranjes said construction is expected to start in September and will take about four months to complete.
In a response to a request for comment, Mark Rickel, Walmart’s director of corporate communications, said, “Walmart is always looking for ways to improve its stores and meet customers where, when and how they want to shop with us. We have no information to share about future remodel plans, right now.”
Walmart moved to its Military Road location in August 2014, leaving a smaller site in the Town of Niagara.