Attention, shoppers: Wal-Mart eyes downtown Miami

Hankering for opera -- and $29 patio furniture? Miami may soon have just the place for you.

It's the future downtown, where a Wal-Mart big-box store may rise next to the Adrienne Arsht Center. Yet whether ''new'' translates into ''improved'' is open for debate.

If Wal-Mart's plans go forward, it would mark the second time in recent years a big-name, warehouse-style retailer has chosen Miami's urban core. Target opened its Midtown Miami location in 2006.

While Target's arrival was hailed as a redevelopment catalyst, Wal-Mart doesn't boast the same trendiness factor.

And Wal-Mart would occupy a higher-profile location -- one where city leaders have longed to attract sophisticated restaurants and upscale shops. Yet, looking to meld into the community, Wal-Mart is eyeing a decidedly different look for this store.

The deal isn't final -- Wal-Mart is not yet a committed tenant and the property in question is still technically owned by The Miami Herald's parent, The McClatchy Co. A sale is expected to close by the end of the year.

Nevertheless, Wal-Mart's interest is serious enough to have sent some residents and government officials into a mini-uproar.

''Horrors!!'' resident Sharon Dodge recently wrote to City Hall.

Another resident chimed in: ``There goes the neighborhood!''

And this, from a city commission aide: ``Visualize a Wal-Mart customer in his pickup truck and family of four driving past tuxedo-clad PAC center guests arriving simultaneously.''

The views may be extreme, but they reflect the bubbling concern over the big company's plans.

Lost in this sense of dread is the fact that downtown's Wal-Mart, if it happens, would not resemble the chain's other South Florida stores.

The retail development Wal-Mart would help anchor, City Square, is designed by Miami's world-renowned Arquitectonica firm. Though it's meant to attract big-box retail tenants, City Square also aims to be elegant and pedestrian-friendly.

''People coming to the performing arts center will have the opportunity to shop and eat and make their evening event something that's enjoyable,'' said City Square developer Mark Siffin, who described the project's design as having a ``timeless quality.''

Siffin declined comment on which retailers would occupy his project.

Michelle Azel Belaire, a Wal-Mart spokeswoman, called the downtown corridor ``a predominantly underserved market.''

''At this time, however, we do not have any agreements,'' she added in a statement. ``We continue to explore all of our options.''

It's unclear what type of store format Wal-Mart would pursue downtown -- whether it would go with its traditional discount department store offerings or its smaller, ''neighborhood market'' concept that focuses on groceries but also includes general merchandise.

Either way, Wal-Mart could be occupying pricey real estate, with City Square set to rise only a block from the bay.

Miami City Commissioner Marc Sarnoff, who represents much of downtown, cringes at the thought of a ``Wal-Mart on the waterfront.''

Though it was Sarnoff's aide, Peter Ehrlich, who decribed the chain's customers as ''pickup truck'' drivers, Sarnoff denies cultural elitism is motivating his opposition.

''I've seen a lot of BMWs and Mercedes in the parking lot of Wal-Mart,'' Sarnoff said.

What you won't see, according to the commissioner, are a lot of people walking to the store -- making Wal-Mart a bad fit for the city's goal of building foot traffic downtown.

Sarnoff also cites Wal-Mart's heavy reliance on foreign-made products as another reason he won't be shopping there if the downtown location is indeed built.

''If we don't want to outsource our jobs, we should do a better job of buying American,'' Sarnoff said.

There have been other criticisms of Wal-Mart over the years. Among them: allegations the company underpays its workers and the characterization of Wal-Mart as a retail bully. The opening of a Wal-Mart, conventional wisdom goes, inevitably leads local, beloved mom-and-pop businesses to go under.

Wal-Mart has argued that, as retailing companies go, it treats its workers better than average and the company has launched small business outreach in some urban areas.

And a funny thing happened in recent months.

As the U.S. economy continued to tank, Wal-Mart's sales figures steadily rose. The numbers provided a reminder of the increased buying power Wal-Mart gives the working class -- in hard times, a trip to Wal-Mart can be the only way for some to pay for life's basic necessities.

Drive inland from downtown's proposed Wal-Mart, just a mile or two, and it's easy to find Miamians living paycheck-to-paycheck.

Closer to the Wal-Mart site, though, are the condo dwellers, some of whom paid top dollar for their penthouse views.

Fred Joseph, who lives in The Grand condo tower down the block, has mixed feelings about Wal-Mart. He's fearful it will hurt property values, and so he doesn't want it to come.

Yet Joseph readily admits he'd shop there.

''I love Wal-Mart,'' Joseph said, calling company founder Sam Walton ``a brilliant man.''

At minimum, Joseph says he hopes the developers find a way to make Wal-Mart attractive.

Ben Fernandez, an attorney with the development team, said he believes this store is ``going to be different''

''All of these big-box retailers are morphing in big cities, and catering to all walks of society,'' Fernandez said. ``You have Home Depot in Manhattan with a doorman.''