158,000-square-foot Walmart store coming to Caroline County

Walmart plans to build a supercenter store on a site in Ladysmith in Caroline County. The 158,000-square-foot store is expected to create 300 jobs. It represents a $25 million investment.

“Our customers in the area have expressed a strong desire to have a store closer to where they live, so this is a great location,” Brooke Mueller, a spokeswoman for  Walmart, said in a news elease.

The store is part of a broader, 36-acre retail project by Richmond-based Blackwood Development. It will be located on the southwest corner of Ladysmith Road and Route 712 (Green Road), near the Ladysmith exit off I-95.

Blackwood said it plans to invest another $20 million to develop an additional 100,000 square feet of retail and services with the project, Ladysmith Crossing, expected to be ready by mid-2017.

In the meantime, Caroline County and Blackwood Development are making improvements in the road network. “The impact of hundreds of jobs for our citizens, and more revenue for important community services will greatly enhance our citizen’s quality of life,” Calvin Taylor, chairman of the Caroline County Board of Supervisors, said in a statement.

According to Wayne Acors, the Caroline County Supervisor from the Madison District where the store will be located, the Walmart project is the result of ongoing work to recruit more businesses to Caroline County. “Walmart is an outstanding win in our successful and continuous retail and industry recruitment campaign. At the same time, the board of supervisors is working on plans to upgrade Rt. 639 to make shopping at Walmart, and many other new stores, convenient,” he said.

Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer will be the exclusive agent in marketing the pre-leasing of the retail space and pad sites at the project. Connie Jordan Nielson and Pete Waldbauer are Thalhimer’s leasing representatives.