Crews and surveyors checking out the site over the last few months have drawn curiosity and speculation throughout Fircrest. Everyone knew big-box retail was interested, but no one was sure exactly which corporation would step forward – or whether anything would pan out.

“Keep ’em out,” said Terry Ramsfield, 42, of Fircrest as he was leaving the community center Monday evening. He’s worried Wal-Mart would shut down local merchants.

But resident Elena Aiken, 43, said she was overjoyed. She’s been looking to buy a patio set from the low-price retailing giant and didn’t want to go all the way to Spanaway or Puyallup to get it.

“We’ve needed one here for years,” Aiken said.

The Wal-Mart Supercenter comes as a surprise to many neighbors and city officials alike. Though the world’s largest retailer was a rumored suitor, many had dismissed the possibility because the site is less than half the size of most Wal-Mart plots.

Most of the store’s parking would be underground, allowing for about the same retail space as larger sites.

It would be the first Wal-Mart in the state with split-level parking, said spokesman Eric Berger. It’s a newer model the Bentonville, Ark.-based company started building a few years ago that allows for stores on smaller lots. He said there are Wal-Marts like this all over the country and similar projects are planned in the Portland suburbs of Gresham and Beaverton.

A Wal-Mart also was unexpected in Fircrest because the retailer has fought for nearly five years to open a store roughly 4 miles away on Bridgeport Way West near the Meadow Park Golf Course in Lakewood.

Anti-Wal-Mart neighbors there are fighting the discount chain in two separate court battles, though Lakewood officials say site work will likely start this fall.

Berger said there’s enough of a market for both stores and there are no plans to pull out of the Lakewood site.

“We consider this a distinct market, an additional way to serve our clients,” he said.

Architect BCRA of Tacoma officially filed an application at Fircrest City Hall on behalf of Wal-Mart on Friday.

If all goes as planned, it would be the first big-box retail store to settle in Fircrest, a suburb of around 6,000 people. The city plans to host a public hearing in October. Construction would begin next spring, at the earliest, said Ray Gilmore, Fircrest’s planning and building director.

The land is zoned for big-box retail and wouldn’t require any land-use changes to accommodate a Wal-Mart.

“This is exactly what the council anticipated in our vision for that site,” said Mayor David Viafore.

City leaders are eager for the thousands of tax dollars that big-box retail could provide for Fircrest, though no one has even a rough revenue estimate for this project. The supercenter could bring as many as 200 jobs to the area, Berger said.

This is the last large chunk of developable acreage in the land-locked city, which has worked at attracting more retail and restaurants over the last few years. Only about 4 percent of the city is available for commercial development.

The city has lost roughly 18 percent of its annual operating revenue to cuts from voter-approved initiatives, though some of that has been restored through funding from the Legislature.

The land is on the edge of the city, where Fircrest borders both Tacoma and University Place. UP officials say they’re concerned about traffic on Mildred, which is already considered a problem arterial because of congestion during rush hour. But they also say big-box retail would likely complement local retail and perhaps bring more stores across Mildred to their city.

In the late 1950s, the land was home to Metal Marine Pilot Inc., a small factory that made automatic pilot systems for boats.

A local fisherman named Wood Freeman started the business after he almost died in an accident aboard a fishing boat. He wasn’t able to stand to control the boat, so he had to steer home with his feet. He started the family business as a way to help fishermen in similar circumstances.

Fircrest annexed the land in 1997 and it was rezoned for commercial uses. The property is now worth about $1.3 million, according to the Pierce County Assessor-Treasurer.

Site: 9.45 acres
Retail building: 127,647 square feet
Outdoor sales: 6,112 square feet
Parking: 646 spaces on two levels
Will include: grocery store, garden center
Won’t include: gas station, overnight recreational vehicle parking