Big-box retailer Walmart might have its sights set on a not-so-big property in an artsy corner of River North.

Last week, Crain’s reported a real estate source as saying that Walmart Stores Inc. has plans to develop a store at 225 W. Chicago. The 14,500-square-foot site, which is located under a CTA train station and formerly housed a Pearl Art and Craft store, has been vacant since early 2010.

Walmart spokesperson Steve Restivo declined to confirm rumors that the company was eyeing the Pearl building.

“While it’s no secret that we are evaluating opportunities across the city to create jobs and improve access to affordable groceries, we do not have any new sites to announce at this time,” wrote Restivo in an email.

The buzz around Walmart’s interest in the property comes about a month after representatives from the company announced plans to develop a string of small-format “Express” stores in urban markets not yet saturated by the retail giant.

“This is a major trend in retail right now,” said Richard Rosfelder, associate editor at the CCIM Institute in Chicago. “From a commercial real estate perspective, investors are looking at these urban markets and trying to capitalize.”

In a conference call on March 7, Walmart’s U.S. president Bill Simon said that the company expected to launch hundreds of Express stores in the coming years.

The stores — slated to be 15,000 square feet and under in size — are dwarfed in comparison to Walmart’s trademark “Supercenters,” which average around 185,000 square feet and are normally found in suburban and rural areas.

But big or small, the introduction of a Walmart could mark a sea change for the River North neighborhood, said local business owner Rudy Avina.

Avina owns Creativo Framing, a custom frame shop that has sat around the corner from the Pearl property for 17 years. His worst fears were realized when he heard that Walmart had designs for the building, which shares the block with a number of art galleries, hair salons, artist studios and even a yoga school.

“Of course I wouldn’t like to lose the artistic and creative feel of the neighborhood,” said Avina. “When you see a Walmart moving in, that means something is changing really fast.”

River North realtor Ted Guarnero said that, given its size, the prospective Walmart might not live up to the company’s reputation as a “competition crusher.”

“That footprint is so tiny that I think if it had been called ‘Joe’s Market’ then everyone would fall in love with it,” he said.

Guarnero said the store might attract some ancillary franchises akin to the Starbucks already set up across the street, and that realtors could expect to see property values go up as a result of the foot traffic that a Walmart would bring.

“Some of those little shops are going to have a tougher time, but we all have to reinvent ourselves,” he said.

The Arkansas-based company currently has only one location in Chicago, on the city’s West Side, but a number of projects are in the works, including several stores planned for the South Side and a 26,500-square-foot store underway at the Presidential Towers in the West Loop.

Plans for a slightly larger store in East Lake View have seen strong resident pushback in recent weeks.

At a recent groundbreaking for a police station in University Village, outgoing Mayor Richard M. Daley expressed his enthusiasm for Walmart’s recent emergence in the city.

“All the aldermen … now they all want ’em,” he said. “It’s like, you know, they want ice cream, and they want it bad, they want it right away, and so it’s really kind of sad.”

Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd), whose ward encompasses the Pearl site, was out of town and unable to respond to questions for this story.

At the heart of his aversion to Walmart’s possible bid for the Pearl store, said framer Avina, was the fact that River North neighborhood is a place where businesses sell local products.

He hoped it could stay that way.

“I would just encourage people to buy locally and support their small businesses as much as they can,” he said.

And that wish extended to Walmart, too.

“If they start supporting some of the small businesses in the communities they do business in, then I think we would have a good match,” he said.

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By Chris from Chicago
Posted: 06/12/2011 11:29 PM

Boyee, In basic map interpretation, if the place is on the border of a district or community, it still is in that neighborhood. And since it is a border, even if the location was across the street, the character of the area is probably similar, since each neighborhood influences the other. Also, refer to a map before you comment.

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By Me from All City
Posted: 06/02/2011 3:36 PM

The former Pearl Art store is ON Chicago Ave which is River North. I hope they do not move in and people continue to shop at the other businesses. there is already CVS, Walgreens and a small grocery store within walking distance so I don't see why they want to be there except as part of their plan to expand into urban areas I've gone into their stores just to check them out and I think they are horrible. all they sell is cheap junk

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By Boyee from Mid-North in Lincoln Park
Posted: 04/27/2011 4:03 PM

It it is north of Chicago Ave., it is not in River North, which is bounded on the south and east by the Chicago River, on the north by Chicago Ave. and on the east by Michigan Ave.