Walmart to upgrade Lake Zurich store with groceries, new facade
Walmart will soon expand its Lake Zurich store, in a project that company and village officials say will change its look inside and out.
The building, located in the Deerpath Court Retail Center at 820 S. Rand Road, will expand by 40,179 square feet to 150,759 square feet.
"I would like to thank Walmart for reinvesting in this community. This store is long overdue for a face lift," Trustee Tom Poynton said before the village board voted to approve the addition Tuesday. "Residents are going to see this is going to be a dramatic improvement to the shopping center and to the community."
Dan Peterson, Lake Zurich's director of building and zoning, said the village has been working with Walmart since late 2007 to bring this project to fruition. The store opened in 1989.
"We appreciate you working with our community and our residents," Village President Suzanne Branding said.
The Walmart expansion will include a full-line grocery store, a new facade with two main entrances, brighter lighting and a new truck loading dock. The renovated store will be open 24 hours.
The plan includes an eight-foot concrete wall on northeast side of the Walmart property, as well as adding stop signs for east and westbound traffic in front of the entrance. A light pole on the east property line will be reduced from 42 feet to 28 feet and landscaping will be added to the north and east property lines to improve the buffer between the story and adjacent neighborhood.
The approved plan does not include building a permanent fenced outdoor seasonal space in the parking lot, as detailed in the original petition. Peterson said it was determined this area would limit parking spaces. Instead, the store will utilize a temporary outdoor space when needed to sell seasonal items.
The store also will utilize many environmentally friendly products, including LED lights throughout the store and the outdoor sign, energy efficient heating, air conditioning and ventilation systems and restrooms equipped sensor activated faucets that reduce water usage by about 78 percent, officials said.
"For all practical purposes, this will be a brand new store," said Bill Boyden of BRR Architecture. "We will have four old walls but everything else is going to be new."
Once building permits have been obtained, construction is expected to begin immediately. The store will remain open while construction is being done, and the newly remodeled Walmart is expected to open within 11 months to one year.
"It's another example of Lake Zurich being a business friendly community," Poynton said.