SCARBOROUGH – The Payne Road Wal-Mart property has been put up for sale as the new Wal-Mart Supercenter moves closer to completion.

Although no posting announces the property’s availability, Drew McElligott of Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services in Oakbrook Terrace, Ill., confirmed it’s handling the sale.

According to McElligott, Marcus & Millichap only recently acquired the listing; its only marketing of the property so far had been a trade show in New York.

“We don’t have a sign up,” McElligott said Wednesday. “We’re not officially marketing the property – we’ve just gotten started. We’re certainly working on marketing this property.”

McElligott refused to answer further questions and referred all inquiries to Wal-Mart’s media hot-line.

While Wal-Mart spokesman Dan Fogleman would not name names, he said Thursday morning that his company does have an interested party but added that nothing has been finalized.

“We originally had a buyer whose intention was to tear it down and build something different,” he said. But that buyer backed out of the deal, he said.

Fogleman did not have information on the listing price.

The 22-acre property has a taxable value of nearly $14 million, according to the Scarborough Web site’s assessing data base. The land is valued at $9.1 million and the 119,000-square-foot building at $4.8 million.

Both the town and Scarborough Economic Development Corp. have received inquiries about the property.

Asked if Staples was looking at the site, Town Planner Dan Bacon said that store had been interested in the past in a site between the new Wal-Mart and Lowe’s but he hadn’t heard back from them.

Bacon said he had been contacted by a caller from the Boston area who had asked about the permitting process and approval for reuse of the Wal-Mart building without revealing his client. And locally, an attorney with similar questions met with Assistant Planner Jay Chace. That attorney suggested Goodwill is interested in the location, Bacon said.

Any new owner would most likely be required by the Planning Board to update the facade and surroundings to “reflect the themes of the Scarborough Gallery,” Bacon said, including the use of brick, new signage and a more attractive exterior.

Calling Planning Board review “a typical process,” Bacon said other businesses in the area, including the Little Dolphin Marketplace and Tractor Supply Co., have gone through a similar face-lift.

The road access to the revamped building would also need to be changed, he said. And because of last winter’s roof leaks due to heavy snow loads, the building would require improvements just to meet current codes.

“Wal-Mart is a prime location,” Bacon said. “I’d expect tenants or users who are interested will update it or redefine the space.”

Harvey Rosenfeld, the president of SEDCO, said he’s hoping for high quality retail development at the Wal-Mart site. Though he recognizes the economy may slow down the timeline, he said he’s confident the prime Scarborough location is in high demand.

“I don’t see that site developing into anything but retail,” he said. “But it would be nice if it were specialty shops – people keep asking for them; what they would like here is not more chains.”

The new Wal-Mart Supercenter in the Scarborough Gallery across the way is scheduled to open in mid to late winter of 2009, Bacon said.

Peggy Roberts can be reached at 781-3661 ext. 125 or proberts@theforecaster.net.

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