BRUNSWICK – Lowe’s is proposing to build its first home improvement store in Maine, setting up what could be head-to-head competition with its business rival, The Home Depot.

The Brunswick Planning Board is expected to approve plans next week for Lowe’s to tear down the former Ames Department Store at Cook’s Corner and build a 165,000-square-foot store with parking for more than 800 cars. Construction could begin early next year.

The store would be just a few miles from a new Home Depot being developed in Topsham, at the Topsham Fair Mall.

Lowe’s, the No. 2 home improvement retailer in the country, has 900 stores in 45 states. The top home improvement retailer, The Home Depot, has 1,500 stores across North America.

Lowe’s officials wouldn’t discuss details of the Brunswick store, but company spokeswoman Jennifer Stanbery said a store of that size typically creates about 175 jobs.

She said the company is on an aggressive expansion course aimed at the Northeast market. Lowe’s, which is based in Mooresville, N.C., has opened 130 stores this year and plans to open another 140 stores in 2004.

“Lowe’s has identified the Northeast as a region of growth for this company,” Stanbery added.

Another Lowe’s has been proposed in Biddeford as part of a new shopping center being developed by Packard Development of Newton, Mass.

The Lowe’s proposal in Biddeford won’t be presented to the city’s Planning Board until February at the earliest, according to Paul Cincotta, Packard’s project manager. Construction would begin in late 2004 or early 2005.

The Biddeford shopping center would be located on Route 111 near the Maine Turnpike, across from a Home Depot.

Brunswick officials say the Lowe’s proposal is a key part of the continuing revitalization of the Cook’s Corner commercial district.

The area, which includes a couple of shopping centers and the Brunswick Naval Air Station, has drawn more than $15 million in projects in 2003, including Wal-Mart, a Shaw’s supermarket and Lowe’s.

Shaw’s has received approval to demolish a former Service Merchandise building at the Merrymeeting Plaza off Bath Road and replace it with a new 65,000-square-foot supermarket. Wal-Mart has permission to build an 89,000-square-foot addition to an existing store at Cook’s Corner.

“It all reaffirms Cook’s Corner as an important retail center,” said Town Planner Theo Holtwijk.