BANGOR – Shaw’s Supermarkets has filed an application for a state site location permit it needs in order to construct a 10,000-square-foot expansion at its Main Street store, which opened in 1996.

According to corporate spokesman Terrence Donilon, the expansion is part of a companywide program that will result in expansions to several existing stores, as well as the construction of new ones, two of which are slated for Maine.

Last year, the City Council rezoned the final property needed to accommodate the expansion, which would bring the store’s total area to 67,000 square feet. Before construction begins, however, the specific expansion plan must be submitted to the city and approved by the planning board.

During talks with the city last fall, the project’s Portland-based developer, the Boulos Co., said the site plan could entail moving Hellier Street to the northwest to accommodate the expansion. Part of Parker Street also might have to be relocated or discontinued, city officials have said.

Announced in late 1994, the Shaw’s project had to overcome some hefty obstacles before the construction crews moved in.

Fourteen buildings in the neighborhood were torn down, but not without a fight. The owners of Perry’s Restaurant sued to try to stop the city from taking the properties by eminent domain, but a settlement was reached.

According to Donilon, the company now operates 186 Shaw’s and Star Market stores and two distribution centers in six New England states. The 20 Shaw’s stores now in Maine employ more than 3,100 associates. Stores planned for Freeport and Wiscasset will bring that total to 22 stores.

During the most recently completed fiscal year, sales totaled $4.4 billion.