Rendering of the proposed Fort Totten Square Walmart. (Courtesy Walmart)

As we noted yesterday, Walmart will add two more stores to its existing plans to construct four in the District in the coming years. Not surprisingly, that has some people very happy, and others very concerned.

At a press conference today, Mayor Vince Gray cheered the two new locations, especially the one that will rise from the ashes of the long-neglected Skyland Shopping Center in Ward 7. According to Gray, who was joined by D.C. Council Chair Kwame Brown and Councilmember Yvette Alexander — each a Ward 7 resident — the Skyland Walmart won’t only bring jobs, retail and development to the area, but also serve as a personal victory in the fight over the 18-acre city-owned site that has roiled the ward since 2006.

“Frankly, I’m unabashedly an advocate for them having to come to this part of the city as well, because while I can’t call it a food desert, I recognize that there is demand the exceeds supply,” Gray said, adding that city officials estimate that at least $1 billion a year in retail sales escapes the District because of a lack of shopping opportunities.

Walmart representatives were also on hand to tout the benefits of the six stores, arguing that their construction alone will produce 600 jobs, while each store will hire between 300-400 workers — most of them, they were careful to add, District residents. Given that three of the six stores are in the wards with the second- and third-highest unemployment rates in the city, this could potentially sound like music to the ears of just about anyone looking for a job or sick of driving to Maryland to get their groceries.

But this is Walmart, and any talks of competitive wages or good benefits are certain to draw critics who remember all too well what the massive retailer has done in other parts of the country.

“The biggest problem, from a taxpayer perspective, is that you have a company that is making millions of dollars and their wages are so low and people cannot afford the benefits, so they’re eligible for food stamps, Medicaid,” said Vanessa Wyndham, a Ward 8 resident and 24-year U.S. Navy veteran who worked as a cashier for three months in a Walmart in Laurel, Maryland.

“The city has to get some sort of concessions that are enforceable,” she added.

That’s part of the problem that has vexed the District, though. Five of the six stores are being build on private land with no assistance from the city, meaning that Walmart owes virtually nothing to the community around it. As for Skyland, the District likely needs Walmart to serve as an anchor tenant more than the retailer needs to set up shop there — which likely won’t happen until 2014 or later anyhow.

Gray indicated that a Community Benefits Agreement was being negotiated with Walmart, but many skeptics noted that, since it was being drawn up after the fact, the District wouldn’t have much leverage.

“I’m not certain. Because they aren’t saying and they’re not making any commitments, how can we feel certain that they’re going to do right by us? I’m not really sure the history really points to them necessarily doing right by fair wages,” said Tom Brown, a candidate for the Ward 7 seat on the D.C. Council who has worked on unemployment issues.

On his way out of the press conference, which took place at the Hillcrest Recreation Center, Vaughn expressed her concerns directly to Gray. While pledging that Walmart would be held accountable, Gray stressed that the retailer offered Skyland the first significant development its had in 22 years. That’s the basic issue for him, Brown and Alexander — this is an undeniable opportunity in a place that has long needed it. (Earlier this year, Gray was said to have forcefully told Walmart that if it didn’t build at Skyland, it could kiss its other locations goodbye.)

The other five Walmart stores are expected to open in 2013.

MORE: Check out some of the raw figures involved in the debate over Walmart’s entry into D.C.