South Euclid Residents Protest Walmart Supercenter; Excellence Warehouse Opens in Brook Park

By Adrian Maties, Associate Editor

The news that a Walmart Supercenter may be built on the former Oakwood golf course in South Euclid has upset local residents. They fear the supercenter will cause irreparable environmental and economic damage to the region, eliminating 144 acres of green space.

Goodman Real Estate Services Group L.L.C. is the broker for the site. According to a marketing brochure posted on its Web site and later removed, the 180,000-square-foot Walmart would anchor a 320,000-square-foot power center at Oakwood Commons. The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported that a Walmart could bring 85 new jobs, not including those that would potentially move from a nearby store.

Lyndhurst-based First Interstate Properties owns and is developing the property. According to the Plain Dealer, company president Mitchell Schneider said an agreement with Walmart is not yet finalized. But the group Citizens for Oakwood has started a Facebook page, “Help Save 144 Acres of Green Space in South Euclid-Cleveland Heights,” and is now gathering signatures to stop the construction of the supercenter.

In other real estate-related news, Excellence Industries, a Tampa-based national provider of commercial refrigeration for the food and food service industries, has opened a 55,000-square-foot warehouse facility in Brook Park, one of Cleveland’s suburbs. With the new addition, the company’s total national warehousing capacity has gone up to more than 200,000 square feet.

The warehouse became operational in January 2012. Excellence chose the Cleveland facility because it is centrally located between the Midwest and the Northeast corridor. Dell Dahl, president of Excellence Industries, stated in a press release that the new facility will allow the company ”to provide substantial freight savings to our national customers and drastically reduce lead time for deliveries to the Northeast and Midwest.” Excellence Industries also operates facilities in Florida, Tennessee and Nevada. “It’s a huge advantage for us to ship from four different facilities strategically spread across the country. It also optimizes our inbound containers being shipped from around the globe,” Dahl said.

Excellence products are used by companies around the globe. Nestlé, Pepsi, Ben & Jerry’s, Healthy Choice, Remy Martin, Godiva, Outback Steakhouse, Singleton Seafood, Whole Foods and Marriott International are just some of its clients.