CENTRALIA — Buchheit Incorporated is proud to announce its purchase of the Walmart building in Centralia, where Walmart is currently operating a retail store at that location.

“We currently have no immediate plans to move from our current location into the Walmart building. However, we expect this location will become the future home of our Centralia store which will allow us to expand our merchandise selection to better serve the community. We’ve had great response from the surrounding areas, and would like to thank the local community for giving us the opportunity to expand and serve them better,” says Tim Buchheit, CEO.

Buchheit’s current Centralia location opened in 2009 and is located at 1045 W Broadway.

Walmart had previously announced plans to possibly build a Super Center store on two parcels of land on the northeast corner of West McCord and Jolliff Bridge Road totaling just over 17 acres.

The existing property has been on the market since that time, with developers indicating Walmart’s lease on its current location expires January 31, 2017.

According to Centralia Economic Development Director Kayla Lambert, the new Walmart store would be 152,290 square feet, double the size of its current Centralia store. The proposed Super Center would have a fueling station, and would add 50 to 60 full and part-time jobs to the current Walmart staff.  Construction is at least a year away and plans still need to be finalized.