Walgreens races to meet deadline

By WES FERGUSON

If it looks like construction workers are racing to complete the new Walgreens store at the corner of Rebel Drive and Jack C. Hays Trail, it’s because they have to.

The 7,700-square-feet store must open for business by Sept. 30, and Sonic Drive-In must open next door by Dec. 31. Otherwise developer Nomoland Co. won’t be reimbursed the $240,000 it is spending to install a four-way traffic signal at the busy intersection, according to a development agreement Nomoland signed with the city of Kyle in December.

“Walgreens needs a traffic light because it slows down traffic, and people are encouraged to come in the store,” said Diana Blank, Kyle’s economic development director. “There’s a high traffic count, and the intersection would eventually be signalized, but because we had other higher-priority projects in the city, we weren’t ready to move on that.”

So Nomoland agreed to cover the up-front costs of the new traffic light, and the city has agreed to reimburse it up to $270,000 using sales tax revenues generated from the property.

“And the project ends up getting done,” Blank said. “Otherwise it would have been wait-and-see.”

Sonic company officials say they plan to begin construction in early summer at the Plum Creek location.

In response to resident concerns about the heritage oak trees being felled to make way for development on the property, Sonic says it has modified its building site plan to preserve three of the largest trees. The company is also planting six new trees on the lot, along with 42 additional trees it says it will plant in the Plum Creek development.

Blank said Nomoland owns two more lots at the corner and expects for one to be a food establishment and the other to be a retail store.

She also said there has been a “significant amount of interest” in the undeveloped land in opposite corners of the intersection.