BREWER – More than a year after announcing plans to build one of its Supercenters here, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. on Monday officially acquired the necessary land on outer Wilson Street.

The bulk of the parcel had been under option for more than a year and a half.

Representatives from Wal-Mart and the city of Brewer confirmed last week that construction on the 155,083-square-foot Supercenter is expected to begin at the site next month.

The property transfer became official on Monday, according to Brewer Economic Development Director Drew Sachs. He said that the transaction involved Wal-Mart, the Brewer Economic Development Corp., and John and Deborah Darling. The BEDC owned the bulk of the land, and the Darlings a smaller adjacent parcel the company decided to acquire later to improve parking and traffic flow.

BEDC President Michael Legasse said earlier that efforts to bring Wal-Mart to Brewer began 18 months before the project was made public in May of last year, when a real estate agent working on Wal-Mart’s behalf came to Sachs with an inquiry about available land.

For several months, Sachs and Legasse were the only people in Brewer with knowledge of the proposal. The project did not become a sure bet until Jan. 22, 2001, when the BEDC and Wal-Mart signed a purchase agreement.

Keith Morris, Wal-Mart’s director of community affairs for New England, said that if all goes to plan, the Supercenter will open next spring or summer.

The store will employ about 300 people, about 70 percent of them full-time, and will be open 24 hours a day but will not include a gasoline station, as do some Supercenters elsewhere in the country.

City officials estimate that the $10 million to $12 million store will generate between $250,000 and $300,000 in new property tax revenue once it is completed.

The impact fee the city assessed for project-related infrastructure improvements amounted to $227,357, according to documents associated with the project.