
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, January 8, 1994                   TAG: 9401080113
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: ADRIENNE PETTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

REZONING MAY BE TIED TO WAL-MART

A Richmond development company has filed a rezoning request in Franklin County to build what many believe will be a Wal-Mart store near downtown Rocky Mount.

Richmond Development Group asked the Franklin County Board of Supervisors to rezone six parcels from agricultural to business so a shopping center can be built on Virginia 40 east of town.

Although the rezoning request does not identify stores in the proposed center, Wal-Mart apparently has been scouting the community for a location for a year.

Carthan Currin III, general manager of Comfort Inn in Rocky Mount, said the group approached him last year about buying land to build a Wal-Mart store.

Roger A. Glover III and Russell Harper, two managers in the group, could not be reached for comment.

A spokeswoman for Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in Bentonville, Ark., stopped short Friday of saying that the company plans to build a store in Rocky Mount.

"We can't deny that we may be looking, but we can't confirm any details," she said.

The proposed shopping center would take up 146,401 square feet and have 896 parking spaces.

A public hearing will be held Jan. 25 at 7 p.m.

by CNB