The Tucson area's latest Wal-Mart Supercenter opened Wednesday morning at Oro Valley Marketplace, 2150 E. Tangerine Road, despite the misgivings of some area residents.
The 176,000-square-foot store, which employs about 350 people, opened with a ceremony that included the awarding of $17,500 in grants from the Wal-Mart Foundation to local nonprofit groups.
During the shopping center's planning process, some local residents objected to the Wal-Mart, contending the town should have landed a more upscale retailer.
Other residents chafed over a deal that gives the center's developer, Vestar Development Co., 45 percent of retail-sales-tax revenue collected at the site, up to a maximum of 10 years or $23.2 million.
Fallout from that deal — approved by area voters in 2006 — led to citizen protests that prompted the Oro Valley Town Council to ban similar revenue-sharing agreements.
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Other retailers at the marketplace include Dick's Sporting Goods and Best Buy, which already are open; tenants still to come include a 12-screen Century Theatres complex, scheduled to open Friday.