•Deal closed on new Lowe’s store.

By JEFFERSON WEAVER
Staff Writer

Whiteville will get a new Lowe’s Home Improvement store, and it could be open by Christmas.

Robert Howard of Premier Real Estate said Wednesday Lowe’s officials have completed a deal on a 14.21-acre tract on the south side of N.C. 130, near the intersection with U.S. 701. The store will face N.C. 130.

The store will be a new prototype for Lowe’s, with 80,000 square feet of floor space.

The project has been valued at $17 to $18 million. It is expected to employ in excess of 100 people when fully operational.
The chain is more than 60 years old.

It is ranked No. 45 on the Fortune 500 list for 2006. Lowe’s Home Improvement stores sell hardware, lumber, appliances and home improvement products.

The first large-scale national home improvement chain, Lowe’s is considered a national leader in retail home improvement and do-it-yourself supplies.

In addition to retail sales, the company has a major presence online. The chain started as a hardware store in North Wilkesboro in 1946, and is the second largest home improvement retailer in the nation, and the seventh in the world.

Howard said representatives from both sides of the development were hammering out final details at 10 p.m. Tuesday.

Closing was completed around 3:40 p.m. Wednesday.

The property is owned by Rep. Dewey Hill, whom Howard credited with making the deal.

Hill worked on the deal for more than five years, after a previous Lowe’s store here closed.

“Dewey Hill has been the driving force behind this development,” Howard said. “He actually made this happen.”

Company officials released no details on the project Wednesday, but Maureen Rich, a spokesperson for Lowe’s, said the company plans to open 150 to 160 stores in the U.S. this year.

Janice Young of the Greater Whiteville Chamber of Commerce said the group is “really, really pleased” that Lowe’s is coming back to Whiteville.

“This is the news we’ve been waiting for,” she said, noting that by adding the Lowe’s store, Whiteville could become even more of a regional shopping destination.

“We already have people coming here to shop,” she said, “as well as using the other services we have here – the hospital, the Social Security office – and this will just give them one more reason to come to Whiteville.

It will also provide an incentive for our residents to stay here and shop, rather than going out of the county.”

Young also pointed out the potential for good jobs with a large company would bring people to Whiteville “to stay.”

“Lowe’s is creating another regional destination,” Young said, “and we’re pleased to welcome them.”

Drew Cox, district engineer with the N.C. Department of Transportation, said a commercial driveway access permit has been requested for the property in question, but he could not confirm that the developer is associated with Lowe’s.

The area was already due for some improvement, Cox said, with a major highway expansion project planned for the area next year.
“The purpose behind the project is for commercial development and to handle the extra traffic headed through the area,” he said.
Howard said the intersection is considered prime for additional development.

“It’s my guess this will bring in more development,” Howard said. “These projects tend to breed improvements. This is going to be a big shot in the arm for the area economy as a whole.”