NEWYORK: When Wal Mart spokesman Glen Wilkins touted plans for what would be the retail giant’s only Florida Keys store, on Rockland Key near mile marker 9 bayside, questions about affordable housing lingered.
Wal-Mart is part of a proposed 33-acre shopping center. The entire center would need around 600 workers. According to Assistant Monroe County Planning Director Mayte Santamaria, the land is zoned industrial. Any change would require county approval.
The proposed 135,000-square-foot Keys store calls for a garden center, a vision center and a fast-food option. Wilkins said the store will employ about 300 workers. Hourly wages are not established. Wal-Mart as a whole will have minimum starting salaries of $10 hourly by 2016.
