Lowe’s on track for late 2007 opening
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Lowe’s Home Centers Inc. representatives
signed 15 deed and easement transfers earlier this month to buy land on
outer Wilson Street for a new store.
The 139,410-square-foot
retail center and 31,659-square-foot garden center is expected to open
later this year and employ up to 200 people.
"It’s very good news,"
City Manager Steve Bost said Wednesday. "It was a long time in the
making."
The build-it-yourself
home-improvement company announced building plans in April 2006 and
received Planning Board approval for the project last October.
Now that the land has
been purchased, construction is expected to start this spring.
"My understanding is the
project is moving forward at a very aggressive pace," Bost said.
A decorative glass
feature will be on the front of the building, which also will have a
blue-beige color scheme and a roof canopy that differs from most of the
company’s 1,250 big-box stores nationwide. The goal is to make the
building more aesthetically pleasing to maintain Brewer’s rural
character.
The estimated $18 million
retail store is expected to employ 180 to 200 people, with 80 percent of
those full-time, according to Todd Morey, Lowe's site development
manager for the New England region.
Attempts to reach Morey
on Wednesday were unsuccessful.
Brewer Planning Board
members approved Lowe's site plans in October with five waivers and 24
conditions, which mostly concerned permits, easements and traffic flow.
Entry to the 19.3-acre
site will be gained at the new traffic light on outer Wilson Street,
just before Interstate 395, at the street's junction with the northern
end of Dirigo Drive.
Brothers Pete and Dennis
Normandin of Westminster, Mass., are two of the three partners who own
the property Lowe's purchased.
"I think this is a great
project for Brewer," Pete Normandin said Wednesday by phone. "There will
a lot of jobs."
The developers, who own
properties in five states including Maine, invested in the Brewer
property in 2003.
"We still have the land
between the power line and the Agway building," Pete Normandin said. "We
retained that seven to eight acres" that stretch all the way back to
Eastern Avenue.
The project will include
a new two-way driveway that can be extended for future access to the
unoccupied lots.
The city and Normandin
did not disclose the price of the land.
To make room for the new
store, the closed Agway and Pickard's Sport Shop, which sit on the
property now, will be demolished in the near future with help from the
Brewer Fire Department.
"I spoke with [Fire]
Chief [Rick] Bronson this morning about beginning the process of
removing the buildings on the property," Bost said. "The chief will use
a couple of those buildings for training. They’ll be controlled burns."
Bost cited City Planner
Linda Johns and her department for work done on the project over the
past year.
"We’re very excited about
Lowe’s coming to town and we anticipate it will generate further spinoff
activity along the Wilson Street corridor," he said.
A copyright article from the Bangor
Daily News, Thursday, February 22, 2007.
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