Widewaters plan now includes big box

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BANGOR – Plans for a 26-acre site near Bangor Mall once eyed for a Wal-Mart Supercenter have shifted from a strip mall to a retail shopping center featuring a big-box anchor.

The potential anchor is widely believed to be a Lowe’s home improvement store, although the developer, the city and corporate representatives would not confirm it Tuesday.

Lowe’s, a build-it-yourself home-improvement company with some 1,250 stores nationwide, opened a store in Presque Isle in October and has announced plans to build stores in Brewer as well as Ellsworth.

Lowe’s also has stores in Auburn, Biddeford, Brunswick, Portland and North Windham.

Its chief rival, Atlanta-based Home Depot Inc., already has a presence in Bangor, Ellsworth, Rockland and elsewhere in the region.

Revised plans for the Bangor site will be on the agenda of the Penjajawoc Marsh-Bangor Mall management commission’s meeting at 1 p.m. Friday in the council chambers at City Hall.

The advisory panel is charged with reviewing commercial construction proposed for the busy but ecologically sensitive mall area and making recommendations to city officials.

Kevin Kane, an architect and executive with developer Widewaters Stillwater Co. LLC, said, “I can tell you that we do not have a signed lease, so I cannot confirm or deny rumors” that Lowe’s is coming to Bangor.

He did say that he planned to be in Bangor for Friday’s meeting.

Maureen Rich, spokeswoman for Lowe’s Cos. Inc. in Mooresville, N.C., said in an e-mail Tuesday: “It’s our policy not to comment about specific sites Lowe’s may be considering for new stores unless we have closed on all real estate matters. We have not done that in your community.”

Rich noted that the company opened 150 stores nationwide in 2005 and plans to open 155 stores before ending its 2006 fiscal year later this month. She said the company is gearing up to add another 150 to 160 stores in 2007, along with its first stores in Canada.

“As part of our nationwide expansion, Lowe’s is evaluating many potential sites. However, the real estate process can be a long and sometimes complicated one,” she said.

Seeing a major retailer open stores in adjacent communities would not be new in the Bangor-Brewer area.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the nation’s largest retailer, is doing just that.

Despite some initial skepticism from residents of both cities, Wal-Mart opened a Supercenter in Brewer in 2003.

It is gearing up to open a Supercenter in Bangor, just up Stillwater Avenue from Widewaters’ parcel. That store will open in spring of 2008.

Widewaters has been trying for more than six years to develop the 26-acre site at 638 Stillwater Ave., near the intersection of Gilman Road, the Bangor Mall and the ecologically sensitive Penjajawoc Marsh.

The developer originally wanted to put a 224,000-square-foot Wal-Mart Supercenter on the site, but a backlash from environmentalists proved to be that project’s downfall.

After spending two years regrouping and working with the city, state transportation and environmental officials and local groups, Widewaters returned last May with a downsized plan calling for a 142,810-square-foot retail shopping center and won site development plan approval.

That plan called for a retail center consisting of seven attached buildings and four satellite buildings to be served by a 727-space parking lot with the main entrance from Stillwater Avenue by way of a drive between Circuit City and Chili’s.

On Friday, a city panel will get its first look at yet another iteration, this one calling for a 117,000-square-foot anchor store – possibly the Lowe’s – and two 8,000-square-foot outbuildings, one of which would be a restaurant, according to city documents related to the project.

The development would continue to be reached from the same point on Stillwater Avenue, the latest drawings show.

The traffic movement permit Widewaters received from the state Department of Transportation requires that traffic relief measures be taken.

These improvements, which would be paid for by the developer, are expected to include:

. Widening Stillwater Avenue at the site entrance drive to provide two through lanes in both directions and an exclusive left-turn lane into the site.

. A traffic signal at the intersection.

. A connector drive between Gilman Road and the Widewaters site drive to accommodate traffic exiting Gilman Road.

. Sidewalks, crosswalks and a pedestrian-activated crossing signal at the Stillwater Avenue entrance.

Plans for those changes were coordinated with the off-site improvements built for the Bangor Parkade retail shopping center across Stillwater Avenue from a new Interstate 95 interchange.

In line with recent city policy, the off-site traffic improvements will need to be undertaken before any businesses in the proposed shopping center open.