Walmart Seeks to Supersize Darien Location

 is in talks with Inland Real Estate Group and the city of Darien to expand its 75th Street location into a superstore, Mayor Kathleen Weaver said at Monday’s .

Weaver read a letter from Walmart that she said she received Monday afternoon confirming its intent to negotiate for a larger space in the Darien Towne Center strip mall. The superstore would include a grocery store, bakery, deli and pharmacy.

The proposal would require three storefronts—, and —to shift east, in part, occupying the former Circuit City location.

In addition to expanding eastward, Weaver said Walmart also proposed purchasing a roughly one-acre parcel of land adjacent to its current store.

“We are thrilled to have Walmart, Inland Realty and the city of Darien join forces to make the expansion of Walmart a reality,” Weaver said.

While Weaver said the project doesn’t yet have a timeline, she said Walmart, Inland and the city are nearing an agreement.

Weaver then said that she wanted to clear up rumors recently spread about the city’s downtown redevelopment plan.

After the city bought the land at 75th Street and Cass Avenue, which it accumulated through a series of purchases between 2006 and 2008, Weaver said developers told City Council that the only businesses expanding were drug stores, banks and fast food restaurants.

The City Council chose to wait for the economy to improve before developing the land in the hopes of attracting other types of businesses, Weaver said.

The downtown development was also delayed after the Environmental Protection Agency required the city to cleanup parts of the property formerly occupied by a dry cleaner and a gas station, Weaver said.

Although some residents recently have suggested that taxpayers are paying the cleanup costs, Weaver said BP is covering those costs on its former property, while grant money is funding the remediation of the dry cleaner’s location.

“The city is paying no additional funds for cleaning up this property,” Weaver said.

In February, the city received a letter of intent from Chase Bank to purchase part of the property for $2 million. According to a city release, Darien purchased that property in 2007 for $1.6 million.