K mart takes step toward new store in Presque Isle

PRESQUE ISLE — Officials of K mart Corp. have asked the developers of the Aroostook Centre mall to post signs announcing the retailer’s interest in the site.

The developers said an Aug. 10 letter from Thomas Wardlow, a real-estate representative at K mart headquarters in Troy, Mich., called the placement of signs a “significant aspect of the new store development process and vital (to) publicity.”

John J. Capenos, president of Oneida Ontario Co., said Wednesday that Wardlow requested that the signs be posted as soon as possible at the site off Route 1. Oneida Ontario, based in Clay, N.Y., is the developer of the proposed mall.

A second mall developer, Mark Development Co. of Kingston, Pa., has announced its interest in locating another enclosed mall in Presque Isle, north of the Aroostook River.

John Emig, development coordinator for Mark Development Co., said Wednesday the placement of K mart signs was good news for Oneida Ontario, but “we are not slowing down our progress at all. It will be an ongoing process to be in contact with our department stores until we get a definitive `no.’ We have not been given a word from any anchor store that they will not go with our project.”

Michelle Deland, K mart marketing and product publicity coordinator, confirmed Wednesday that Presque Isle is “definitely a site we are considering. We would like to place a store in Presque Isle. We don’t have anything carved in stone right now.”

Deland said placement of signs is common “even if we have not signed a paper or lease,” adding that the deal could “fall through. The deal will be more official when we sign a lease. I would certainly hope they would sign a lease.”

Deland said locating a store in Presque Isle was part of a five-year, $2.3 billion “rolling-out” program undertaken by the company, which will affect “all of our stores.” K mart already has a store in Madawaska.

“K mart will be building a couple hundred new stores in the next five years, expanding our small stores and renovating our current stores,” said Deland. “The stores will have a look of the ’90s, with wider aisles, brighter lighting, heavy use of bold graphics, and a bolder presentation of merchandise for a livelier look.”

Capenos also said officials of Porteous Mitchell and Braun Co. had indicated an interest in placing a store in Augusta or Presque Isle.

Porteous is based in Portland and is listed by developers as one of four anchor stores interested in locating at the Aroostook Centre mall. The retailer has seven stores in Maine, including the Bangor Mall.

Also named as potential anchors at the Aroostook Centre site are J.C. Penney Co., already in Caribou, and Sears, Roebuck & Co., already in Presque Isle.