Walmart plans to build a 712,500-square-foot distribution center in Cibolo, according to a filing with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. Shown is its distribution center in Terrell.
Elias Valverde II/Dallas Morning News
Walmart has been revealed as the Fortune 500 company behind an anticipated $400 million distribution center in Cibolo.
The Bentonville, Ark.-based company plans to build a 712,500-square-foot distribution center with a 31,933-square-foot connected office at 3641 S. Santa Clara Road, according to a filing with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. Construction is expected to begin in February and be completed by August 2029. Details in state filings are preliminary and subject to change without notice.
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The development, which the city code-named Project Theo, is expected to generate at least 425 full-time jobs with wages above the median salary of the San Antonio metro area. Cibolo officials had yet to reveal the operator in previous meetings and requests for comment, only referring to it as an unidentified Fortune 500 company.
READ MORE: Fortune 500 company planning $450M distribution center, 425 jobs in Cibolo
City officials and Walmart declined a request for comment about the filing.
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The San Antonio Express-News first reported on the project in October last year, when the Cibolo City Council approved a package of tax breaks valued at $32.5 million to attract what its agenda called a “next-generation” distribution center on 126 acres off Interstate 10 between San Antonio and Austin. Cibolo city officials also want the company to set aside about 20 acres for a future store.
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“This project will be a game changer for Cibolo,” Guadalupe County Commissioner Stephen Germann previously told the council.
Walmart’s distribution center is being built on 126 acres, outlined in red, next to the Aisin plant.
City of Cibolo documents
The city’s plan includes a 75% property tax abatement for 10 years, 50% rebate of the city’s maintenance and operations property tax for five years and a performance-based sales tax. Council materials said Guadalupe County is working on its own plan for the company. Additionally, the council approved the establishment of a tax increment reinvestment zone, a defined area where a city sets aside future growth in property tax revenue to pay for improvements in that area. The current property tax value is $13,000.
In addition to the city’s package, the public-private Cibolo Economic Development Corp. will offer a $300,000 infrastructure reimbursement to be paid in the first year, a project permit fee cap of $453,000 and $6,000 for workforce development.
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The distribution center will be “run by robots, high-tech equipment and operators managing that equipment,” city officials previously stated.
In 2021, Walmart contracted Mass.-based robotics company Symbotic to install its automated storage and retrieval systems across all of Walmart’s 42 regional distribution centers by 2034.
With 38 stores in the San Antonio metro area and $2.9 billion in sales last year, Walmart has the second-largest share of the local grocery market with 26.3%, according to industry publication Chain Store Guide. By comparison, H-E-B has the largest share, 49.5% of the local market, with 64 stores and about $5.5 billion in sales.
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Walmart does not have a regional distribution center within San Antonio, but it services the Interstate 35 corridor through its facility in New Braunfels.
The retailer opened its last new store, a now-closed Neighborhood Market on the South Side, in 2016. Since then, the company has focused on major store expansions, relocations and multimillion-dollar remodels of existing local stores.
In July, the company purchased 34.7 acres off Culebra Road on San Antonio’s far West Side, according to Bexar County property records. While the company declined to share any more details on its plans for the land, it could be a potential site for a future store.
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Over the past five years, Walmart has invested more than $2.5 billion to remodel stores throughout Texas. This year, the retailer is remodeling 72 stores in Texas, including six in San Antonio and one in Austin. The retailer remodeled eight stores in San Antonio last year and 20 in the metro area in 2023-24.