After more than a year of negotiations, Wal-Mart announced Friday that it would not build a supercenter off Ruppert Road in south Iowa City.

However, Ryan Horn, spokesman for the Bentonville, Ark.-based retail giant said Wal-Mart would continue to explore its options here.

“Basically, the city has been good to work with and has done everything appropriately, and we certainly understand and appreciate the council's need to move the transaction forward quickly,” Horn said. “But we're not going to be able to close on the property by July 31 and thus continue the project.”

Horn said the Iowa City Board of Adjustment's 4-0 vote last week denying Wal-Mart's request to fill in a floodplain for construction of the supercenter was the fatal blow.

“We felt fairly confident … that we had a very good chance of being successful upon appeal,” Horn said, “but the possibility of not being able to build based on that decision creates too much risk for us to close on the property without it resolved.”

In March 2005, the council approved selling the land — part of the 57.13-acre North Airport Development Subdivision — to Wal-Mart for $3.1 million. Delays on closing the initial purchase agreement came after litigation by a local group, Iowa City Stop Wal-Mart, who challenged zoning decisions made by the City Council.

Iowa City Manager Steve Atkins said Wal-Mart would owe the city about $15,000 in fees and charges associated with the contract.

City councilors voted 4-3 Tuesday to deny a fourth request to extend the July 31 closing deadline and Friday's announcement came as a “delight,” “shame” and “not surprising” to some city councilors.

“I'm disappointed. I thought it was a good location for Wal-Mart,” council member Mike O'Donnell said. “There are thousands upon thousands of people who shop there every day and with the jobs lost, I think it's a shame.”

Councilor Dee Vanderhoef said based on Wal-Mart's hesitancy for several weeks to close the deal, she expected Wal-Mart would back out.

“I am relieved that it's settled one way or the other so we can move on at this point,” Vanderhoef said. “I wish them well, and I will certainly consider a proposal if they come back at another time.

“I just hope we have interest in the land,” Vanderhoef said of the property near the Iowa City Municipal Airport. “I look forward to someone coming forward sooner rather than later.”

Councilor Bob Elliott said he was disappointed by Wal-Mart's decision.

“We could have benefited greatly from the expanded tax base,” he said. “It's unfortunate that a few dozen or a few hundred people have made it impossible for Iowa City to have something that in recent years has been preferred by thousands and thousands of shoppers.”

Connie Champion said it's better for Johnson County that Wal-Mart or any other large retailer does not build in Iowa City.

“I think we have enough big box stores. We have enough retail malls and now we have the (Catfish Bend Casino in Riverside) coming soon,” Champion said. “I think we're going to have a tremendous amount of people with low paying jobs, and I don't think our social services can handle it anymore.”

Wal-Mart will start from scratch and start looking right away for other locations in Iowa City to build a supercenter, Horn said.

“There's not a lot of developable land in Iowa City so it might take a while,” he said. “We have thousands of customers who shop there everyday, and we want to be able to bring them a nice new supercenter.”

Gary Sanders, of Iowa City Stop Wal-Mart, called the retailer's announcement, “a victory for Iowa City.”