CVS Pharmacy to Bring 50 Jobs to Arnold

Arnold residents should see another national retailer break ground on another building near the Jeffco Boulevard and Highway 141 intersection this fall.

CVS Caremark Corp, a publicly held company focused on pharmacies, wants to build a new building between Applebee’s Restaurant and QuikTrip gas station along the south side of Hwy 141.

Arnold will receive more than $7 million in construction-related development said David Glarner of St. Louis-based Raven Development, which will build the CVS location.

Glarner spoke during the Arnold City Council meeting at City Hall, 2101 Jeffco Blvd., on Thursday.

The proposed construction will provide immediate employment for site development, building construction and roadwork, Glarner said.

“Long-term, it (the new pharmacy) will create 50 full-time jobs for pharmacists, managers and technicians,” Glarner said.

Those are high-paying jobs, Glarner said.

Ransom vs. eminent domain

CVS would cancel the development if a business or landowner next to the proposed building changed their demands, Glarner said.

Prior to constructing the new building, Glarner said the developer needed the Arnold City Council to approve public funding for a connector road onto the site, a transportation development district and eminent domain.

Glarner said he needed eminent domain if business or landowners decided to change already negotiated deals.

“I need this in case someone decides to hold me ransom,” Glarner said.

When Ward 4 Councilman Ken Moss mentioned the city’s anti-eminent domain ordinance, City Attorney Bob Sweeney said, “That ordinance is inapplicable because this (project) is a public improvement.”

Glarner also said: “This (request) is for a public road going through commercial properties, not private homes. This does not displace anyone, and the current tenants will continue to operate in their exact same capacity.”

City Administrator Matt Unrein said the proposal is to build a single connector road, with access to the new pharmacy, the gas station and Heiligtag-Lang-Fendler Funeral Home. 

Expensive to remove rock near Hwy. 141

“This has been long coming, we just have not had the development here to knock through that wall of rock,” Unrein said about the rocky area of the proposed CVS site.

City Hall has 10-year old memos about building a road through the rocky area next to Highway 141, Unrein said.

“This proposed road will deplete what funds we have, but will get the most expensive and difficult part out of the way,” Unrein said.

The city will likely begin to investigate the costs of connecting Highway 141 to the shopping mall district along Michigan Avenue, Unrein said.

Additional developers will build their own extensions to the CVS-requested connector road, Unrein said.

Raven Development purchased the site three years ago, Glarner said.

“It’s a challenging development. It’s on a rock, it’s a small piece of land, and it’s not a flat piece of land,” Glarner said.

The site also has utility and water drain issues, he said. 

Glarner said the developer knows a bank or another gas station could use the site.

The proposed pharmacy is the highest and best use of the land, Glarner said.

Final Vote on Oct. 20

City Clerk Diane Waller read the proposed bill once Thursday. She will read the bill a second time on Oct. 20 prior to the councilmen voting on the issue.

Unrein said the CVS development document only in draft form and was not given to councilmen on Oct. 6.

Councilmen will have the development agreement prior to Oct. 20 city council meeting, Unrein said.

Correction: Ken Moss is the Ward 4 City Councilman, an earlier version said otherwise. The writer and editors erred.