Marvin's Building Materials and Home Centers have announced they will occupy a portion of the old Wal-Mart building at Interstate Plaza and expect to be open for business in early March. The home improvement retailer will include a 35,000 square-foot store with an attached lawn and garden center and drive-through lumberyard.

&uot;We are very excited to be opening our 25th store in Greenville,” said Boyden Moore, President and CEO in a prepared statement. &#8220The store will offer a complete line of building materials, electrical, plumbing, paint, millwork, hardware, tools, as well as lawn and garden products.

We plan to offer Greenville and other surrounding communities a convenient alternative for their home improvement needs.”

Marvin's plans to hire 25 people to run the local store and Darrin Gilliam, Marvin's Senior Vice President of Operations, said the company feels Greenville is a great market for them to be in.

&#8220We've always felt real positive about the Greenville market,” he said. It's a wonderful city. We actually had a list of several hundred sites, but decided Greenville was best for our newest store.”

Gilliam said he thinks the bulk of their business will come from local people who currently shop out of town.

&#8220From our data we think we'll not infringe on any of the businesses (in Greenville),” he said. &#8220We've found that we'll get the dollars that are currently being spent outside the city.”

The old Wal-Mart building has undergone an estimated $550,000 in renovations that was funded by Mike Dendy, an electrical contractor and retail developer who has worked with Marvin's in the past to locate stores in Atmore, Brewton and Jasper.

In brokering the deal, Dendy assumed the lease on the building from the City of Greenville, who had assumed Wal-Mart's lease as an incentive for the retailer to build a Super Wal-Mart in town.

The city agreed not to charge Dendy any rent the first two years, then charge him reduced rent the remaining 13-years the city has on the lease. Dendy would pay no rent if the sales tax generated by the building's occupants exceeds the annual rent payment.

As an example, in years three and four, Dendy's lease payment would be $50,000 per year. If the sales tax generated by the businesses in the building exceeded that, he would not have to pay anything. If the sales tax does not, Dendy would pay the city the difference between what was generated and the lease payment. The city currently pays approximately $18,000 per month rent on the building.

&#8220Because of the demographics I'm very confident, based on Greenville being positioned for growth, that it will not be a problem generating that kind of sales tax revenue,” Dendy said.

Local officials seem happy with the deal, especially that it will bring more jobs to the city and keep more money circulating in Greenville.

&#8220The City of Greenville did not want to have an empty Wal-Mart building, that's why we did what we did with Super Wal-Mart and Mike Dendy,” said Greenville Mayor Dexter McLendon. &#8220Once the Marvin's opens it will be additional jobs for the people of Greenville and the surrounding area. It also increases our tax base with more people shopping in Greenville instead of driving to Montgomery.”

Dendy said he is also negotiating with a department store that would occupy the remainder of the old Wal-Mart building and a movie theater that would operate in the old Winn-Dixie building at Interstate Plaze, which closed earlier this year due to financial difficulties.

&#8220I'm very confident from my end that I'll be able to get a deal done, but until it's signed, it's not a done deal,” he said. &#8220But so far it looks very promising.”

Since opening its first store 60 years ago in Gadsden, Marvin's has grown to 24 stores in Alabama, Mississippi and Florida employing more than 600 people. People interested in a job at the new store can visit the Marvin's website at www.marvins.com for job descriptions, hiring information, as well as additional company history.

Marvin's will begin taking applications locally starting January 27, at the Greenville Career Center on 117 West Commerce Street.

For additional information contact the Career Center at 382-3128.