I heard it mentioned recently that Costco may be looking at Waco again for a store. Anyone know of that happening?

I have always said the perfect location is there on the corner of the loop and 35 across from the marketplace - serve Waco, Hewitt, Lorena, and on the Temple side of town to draw from Temple/Killeen.

The Georgetown and College Station stores are too far. I feel like it would do well. Sam's in Bellmead is ALWAYS crowded so it seems there could be a demand for a new bulk warehouse store.

Figured I would ask and see what you all think?

Stranger said:

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baylorguy09 said:

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I heard it mentioned recently that Costco may be looking at Waco again for a store. Anyone know of that happening?

I have always said the perfect location is there on the corner of the loop and 35 across from the marketplace - serve Waco, Hewitt, Lorena, and on the Temple side of town to draw from Temple/Killeen.

The Georgetown and College Station stores are too far. I feel like it would do well. Sam's in Bellmead is ALWAYS crowded so it seems there could be a demand for a new bulk warehouse store.

Figured I would ask and see what you all think?

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. . . and I hear they would hire Art Briles to coach it

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Whatever that means...

I still don't know that our (Waco) demographics meet whatever Costco's 'metric' is. While we've certainly been getting a lot of tourist-type income, we're probably still short on local affluence by Costco's standards.

That said, right across the street from the Bellmead Sam's is the old 100-acre Kelley's junkyard that finally got (mostly) cleaned up.

Provided it wouldn't anger Sam's too much, I'd imagine that Bellmead's EDC would empty their piggybank (several million right now, IIRC) to get that deal. Bellmead is a sales tax generating machine.

And, you'd draw from areas north of town.

baylorguy09 said:

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Stranger said:

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baylorguy09 said:

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I heard it mentioned recently that Costco may be looking at Waco again for a store. Anyone know of that happening?

I have always said the perfect location is there on the corner of the loop and 35 across from the marketplace - serve Waco, Hewitt, Lorena, and on the Temple side of town to draw from Temple/Killeen.

The Georgetown and College Station stores are too far. I feel like it would do well. Sam's in Bellmead is ALWAYS crowded so it seems there could be a demand for a new bulk warehouse store.

Figured I would ask and see what you all think?

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. . . and I hear they would hire Art Briles to coach it

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Whatever that means...

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. . . and you are as clueless as most of the rest of them

bankerbear said:

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Costco is happening. Intersection of 35/6/340.

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You know this for fact or just guessing?

Facts.

bankerbear said:

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Facts.

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Any idea when?

bankerbear said:

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Facts.

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For now I will give him the benefit of the doubt. Since his name at least indicates he is in banking. I know lame. But still as I said benefit of the "doubt". I haven't heard anything about this except this thread.

I bet we are 24 months from them being open.

Well how long does it take to build one? I doubt it is anything close to two years. So I guess you are confirming they are talking about it. Which I think they have been talking about it for at least a couple of years. I thought you were indicating something that was a few days away from an official announcement. Now I need to back track to my wife for putting too much stock in your earlier pronouncement. Lol.

Bellmead????

Surely you jest…….

CTbruin said:

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Bellmead????

Surely you jest…….

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Bellmead certainly takes a lot of grief from those in our area, and granted, some of it is probably deserved. So, your point is taken.

On the other hand, I'll stand by my statement that Bellmead is a sales tax generating machine.

Here are the latest figures from the Comptroller for McLennan County

Quote:

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County City Payment
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McLennan Bellmead $379,063.30
McLennan Beverly $55,623.18
McLennan Crawford $11,863.63
McLennan Gholson $7,009.92
McLennan Hallsburg $1,543.45
McLennan Hewitt $325,135.02
McLennan Lacy Lakeview $130,851.24
McLennan Leroy $1,035.55
McLennan Lorena $48,379.37
McLennan Mart $11,878.06
McLennan Mc Gregor $130,940.64
McLennan Moody $14,478.16
McLennan Riesel $12,903.04
McLennan Robinson $184,848.37
McLennan Ross $5,673.21
McLennan Waco $4,662,447.42
McLennan West $65,581.64
McLennan Woodway $314,831.79

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So, the small land-locked city of 10,000 residents is second only to Waco in generating sales tax revenue. People come to Bellmead, if not to live, to spend their money.

And their EDC has been piggybanking its share of those revenues for a long, long time and has had few worthy projects to throw much of it at. Sure, they'll kick out $10K here and $10K there, but they've got real money to spend on the 'right' thing.

I'm not here to derail the thread and do a commercial for Bellmead, however. But, I'll close by saying they've got some professional management in place now, and provided they don't start getting any crazy Austin-like (or California-like) ideas, things will improve there, particularly after East Loop 340 finally gets done.

And speaking of crazy Austin-like (or California-like) ideas, take a look at the Waco City Council.

Eleven-League Grant said:

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CTbruin said:

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Bellmead????

Surely you jest…….

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Bellmead certainly takes a lot of grief from those in our area, and granted, some of it is probably deserved. So, your point is taken.

On the other hand, I'll stand by my statement that Bellmead is a sales tax generating machine.

Here are the latest figures from the Comptroller for McLennan County

Quote:

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County City Payment
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McLennan Bellmead $379,063.30
McLennan Beverly $55,623.18
McLennan Crawford $11,863.63
McLennan Gholson $7,009.92
McLennan Hallsburg $1,543.45
McLennan Hewitt $325,135.02
McLennan Lacy Lakeview $130,851.24
McLennan Leroy $1,035.55
McLennan Lorena $48,379.37
McLennan Mart $11,878.06
McLennan Mc Gregor $130,940.64
McLennan Moody $14,478.16
McLennan Riesel $12,903.04
McLennan Robinson $184,848.37
McLennan Ross $5,673.21
McLennan Waco $4,662,447.42
McLennan West $65,581.64
McLennan Woodway $314,831.79

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So, the small land-locked city of 10,000 residents is second only to Waco in generating sales tax revenue. People come to Bellmead, if not to live, to spend their money.

And their EDC has been piggybanking its share of those revenues for a long, long time and has had few worthy projects to throw much of it at. Sure, they'll kick out $10K here and $10K there, but they've got real money to spend on the 'right' thing.

I'm not here to derail the thread and do a commercial for Bellmead, however. But, I'll close by saying they've got some professional management in place now, and provided they don't start getting any crazy Austin-like (or California-like) ideas, things will improve there, particularly after East Loop 340 finally gets done.

And speaking of crazy Austin-like (or California-like) ideas, take a look at the Waco City Council.

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Bellmead has Sam's, HEB, and a Walmart. Costco would also be a huge sales tax generator if located at Hwy6 / I-35.

On the other hand, Bellmead is the only other city besides Waco that has I-35 frontage on both sides of the highway, and big box retail (with the slight exception of the Walmart in Hewitt), so they would be a logical second place finisher.

I would tend to believe the Bellmead Location grumblings are from the Woodway crowd not wanting to drive past 35 and 6.

The tax revenue numbers definitely help explains why Bellmead received the new Chick-Fil-A location.

Excited for the arrival of Costco. Appreciate you sharing your insight bankerbear.

From a location standpoint, if Costco wants to pull from both McLennan and Bell Counties, the best location would be somewhere on the south side of Waco. Or maybe even on the north side of Temple (near Bucee's) where there is adequate space.

The I-35/Hwy 6 location works well in terms of location, convenience to highways (both 6 and I-35), and available property. McLennan County population is about 270,000 and Bell County is 370,000. A location in Bellmead might better pull from Hill County, but the population there is about 38,000.

Will be interesting to see what happens.

bankerbear said:

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Costco is happening. Intersection of 35/6/340.

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North or south?

Robert Wilson said:

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bankerbear said:

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Costco is happening. Intersection of 35/6/340.

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North or south?

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Yeah, this detail is kind of important.

Robert Wilson said:

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bankerbear said:

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Costco is happening. Intersection of 35/6/340.

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North or south?

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Guessing Op means south as hwy 6 doesn't run north.

My best guess based on rumors I've heard is somewhere within this vicinity, but not sure if location is set in stone or not yet. I definitely think they are coming though.

If anyone has Magnolia connections, maybe Chip and Jo can leverage their brand to further fix up this town by offering Costco an exclusive line of licensed products in exchange for agreeing to plant a store here.

There's an existing location on the North side of Georgetown that Killeen and Belton folks would mostly continue to frequent. But if you're in Temple or points north, South Waco/Robinson would be an easy trip.

I'm wondering how long before 35 at Lorena transforms.

When the person asked north or south I assumed they were asking on the north bound or south bound side. I assume the area discussed is the north bound side on the north side of the 340/35 intersection. That's just the area I thought was discussed earlier on this thread.

PartyBear said:

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I'm wondering how long before 35 at Lorena transforms.

When the person asked north or south I assumed they were asking on the north bound or south bound side. I assume the area discussed is the north bound side on the north side of the 340/35 intersection. That's just the area I thought was discussed earlier on this thread.

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No, just confirming it was near Legends Crossing / Central Texas Marketplace and not in Bellmead (as was being discussed above on the thread).

Robert Wilson said:

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PartyBear said:

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I'm wondering how long before 35 at Lorena transforms.

When the person asked north or south I assumed they were asking on the north bound or south bound side. I assume the area discussed is the north bound side on the north side of the 340/35 intersection. That's just the area I thought was discussed earlier on this thread.

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No, just confirming it was near Legends Crossing / Central Texas Marketplace and not in Bellmead (as was being discussed above on the thread).

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You have a point. There are two places where 340 and 35 intersect.

Location is not Bellmead. Closer to BSW Hillcrest (though not in Legends Crossing, but near).

The proposed location, for years, has been the southeast corner of 340 and 35, directly across the interstate from Hillcrest/BSW. That property is owned by same folks that sold the parcel just to the north to WacoISD when they built University HS.

Of course that may have changed but that was the "plan" IF Costco was going to plant in Waco.

I thought that land was zoned for industrial. University High is on the northern part of the north east corner..

As an aside, we hit up COSTCO for several years for a location here in College Station. Every time it was, too small, too many students, bad demo's. Then we hear on TV that COSTCO is coming .... yeah my broker was pissed. He had talked to them like a year prior. We heard that COSTCO finally chose CS because of the large number of members with Brazos county zip codes. They also got a good deal on a city owned piece of property.

Result is a COSTCO that is full most of the time. I had no problems with Sam's Club, but the COSTCO is much closer to my home and I can fill-up my car much easier, so i killed the Sam's card and now I'm with COSTCO, mostly for the cheaper gas price closer to home.

BCL79 said:

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As an aside, we hit up COSTCO for several years for a location here in College Station. Every time it was, too small, too many students, bad demo's. Then we hear on TV that COSTCO is coming .... yeah my broker was pissed. He had talked to them like a year prior. We heard that COSTCO finally chose CS because of the large number of members with Brazos county zip codes. They also got a good deal on a city owned piece of property.

Result is a COSTCO that is full most of the time. I had no problems with Sam's Club, but the COSTCO is much closer to my home and I can fill-up my car much easier, so i killed the Sam's card and now I'm with COSTCO, mostly for the cheaper gas price closer to home.

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If BCS supports one, McLennan County doesn't seem like such a stretch. I don't have the demographic figures, but I'd assume they're not night and day different. Plus, it would draw from a fairly large area, given that the closest ones are in south Dallas or Georgetown.

bankerbear said:

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Deal has not been announced yet; I bet it will be announced this year. 24 months to open.

I'm happy to be a resource, but certainly won't get my feelings hurt if you don't like or believe what I have to say.

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I'm assuming on the WIF property near where wal mart just announced their new facility.