Welcome to the neighborhood, Walmart Neighborhood Market — or not

Nearly two years after a sign was posted at the intersection of Bluffton Parkway and S.C. 170 announcing that a Walmart Neighborhood Market would be built there starting in summer 2015, it is still unclear when, or if, the grocery store will be built.

Kevin Icard, planning and community development manager with the Town of Bluffton, said Thursday that building permits are needed before construction begins and that the town hasn’t received an application from developers.

“We do not have any building permits for ... Walmart marketplace on 170 as of today,” he said.

Art Waaland, a partner with the developer Coastal Retail Services LLC, said in July that construction on the 43,108-square-foot grocery store would begin in August of this year and that the anchor store would open June 2017.

However, there were no signs of activity, equipment, planning or any other indication that construction would begin at the site as of Thursday morning.

The sign that read “Coming Soon! Walmart Neighborhood Market” is no longer staked to the land of the project.

The last known activity at the site was when the Beaufort County Engineering Division administered construction on the entrances for the property — work that now appears to have been finished.

Two calls to Waaland on Thursday were not returned.

This story was originally published December 8, 2016 at 5:17 PM with the headline "Welcome to the neighborhood, Walmart Neighborhood Market — or not."