Will Carroll’s new Wal-Mart Supercenter draw other business to the area?CARROLL — A Kansas City real estate developer is working to site well-known home improvement and office supply stores to the east of the just-opened Carroll Wal-Mart Supercenter.

“It’s our intention to have something done in ‘08,” Jeff Dozier says in an interview.

Dozier, vice president of retail development for Kansas City, Mo.-based Kessinger/Hunter & Company, is part of Carroll 30 Investors, a collection of people from Kansas City that owns the nearly 13 acres east of the Supercenter – an area known as Westfield Plaza.

Just hours ago Wal-Mart held a grand opening for its 143,000-square-foot Supercenter at 2014 Kittyhawk Ave., in Carroll, Iowa.

Dozier said the area holds great possibility. Market research and other factors have prompted Dozier and his associates to laser in on home-improvement and office-supply businesses.

“We’re focusing on two major uses – home improvement and office supply,” Dozier said.

He said the public would readily recognize the names of companies he’s been working with on potential Carroll development but that he didn’t want to reveal any names at this point.

He said Carroll 30 Investors has gone as far as a “letter of intent” with one company but is expecting more site visits. The investors are working with realtor Linda Ladd of Mid America Group in Des Moines.

Once a deal is inked construction moves with dispatch, Dozier said.

Carroll 30 Investors has been working with the city on infrastructure to accommodate any development as well.

Dozier is involved in land developments in six states. He says the Carroll project is the most exciting.

“Real estate next to a new Supercenter is hard to come by,” Dozier said. “… It’s our favorite project.”

Dozier said if either the home-improvement or office-supply plans don’t materialize it would be possible to lure smaller stores to the area as part of a plaza. He also notes that his group is not the only one looking to develop land around the Supercenter.

Through the Kessinger/Hunter database of companies, Dozier and his associates have made some form of contact with more than 200 businesses about coming to Carroll.

He said those contacts involved mass e-mails, cold calls, marketing and the tapping of personal business connections developed over the years.

“Carroll’s a wonderful city, and I think any retail will do well,” Dozier said.

He declined to name any specific stores because those businesses are still in his sights for the Westfield Plaza.

But he did say new clothing and shoe businesses would be likely for Carroll. What’s more, he recognizes that Carroll-area residents are asking for more restaurants.

“You definitely have a demand,” Dozier said.