ARGYLE — When Argyle Town Board Chair Larry Flannery heard a proposal from Dollar General Inc. to put a store over roughly 7,500 square feet near the local high school, he thought it would be a good addition to the small rural area.
He still feels that way, he said.
“Personally, I think they’ll do well,” Flannery said, listing off nearby cities and towns with the popular retailer where stores are thriving.
Flannery noted a lack of a grocery store or a retailer with multiple types of goods in Argyle. He said over the summer months the board was approached by the corporation to build at the edge of the town. After review, the township officials approved the proposed development agreement. Flannery noticed when digging started in the fall, but he said due to weather, it stopped.
Terry Loeffelholz, Lafayette County Land Conservation, Planning and Zoning manager, said survey company Point of Beginning of Stevens Point submitted plans to rezone the land on behalf of the corporation. The parcel of land had to be rezoned from agricultural to business use. The land use change request was approved by members of the Lafayette County Board of Supervisors during their Sept. 18 meeting.
Two parcels, roughly 1.8 acres of land, were requested for a rezone by Susan Madson of Andergard LLC based in Verona. One sits across from Argyle High School between Valley Road and Wis. 78, while the larger of the two spans nearly 1.4 acres just north of the high school parking lot.
Loeffelholz said the permit request stated that construction would be completed Feb. 15, but that does not necessarily include interior work. He said there was no specific date of completion listed.
According to a presentation from NAI Pfefferle, a real estate brokerage based in Appleton, the company would sell the building to DG for just over $1.2 million. The yearly rent would be roughly $79,000 and the 15 year lease would begin in April.
Mike Pfefferle, president of Pfefferle Companies Inc. of Appleton, was contracted by the company to build the store. He declined to comment on the project and was instructed to refer any questions to corporate headquarters in Nashville.
Mary Kathryn Colbert, a spokesperson for the company, issued an email statement Tuesday in which she said the company plans to break ground in the summer.
Colbert noted that the company anticipates employing from six to 10 workers, “depending on the individual needs of the store,” with 5,600 square feet of sales floor space at 14500 Wis. 78. Colbert specified that convenience for customers was a major reason for deciding to build in Argyle.
The company looks for places where it can offer a store within a radius of 3 to 5 miles, or roughly 10 minutes, from customers’ homes. She added that a grand opening is tentatively scheduled for “late fall,” but that could change if the construction schedule has to be altered.