Former Wal-Mart To Become Pedestrian-Friendly Housing And Shops

Call it a business development/man-bites-dog story.

Call it something straight out of The Onion.

Call it simply amazing:

A former Wal-Mart site in Baton Rouge is being razed in favor of a mixed-use development with modestly-sized townhouse units aimed at pretty much everyday folk, even grad students at nearby Louisians State University.

Imagine a Wal-Mart becoming "Acadian Village," embracing "pedestrian-friendly, smart-growth principles: a public plaza, landscaped parking lot and public transportation pavilion...," according to one Louisiana television news report.

(Comparitive local angle: Unlike the new BayShore Town Center's layout, the parking structure at Acadian Village is more correctly situated - - off the street, and in the back.)

I'll bet not even the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Whitney Gould could have imagined that one day, a community would tear down a Wal-Mart and turn it into a New Urbanist daydream.