Work has officially begun on a new Lowe’s Foods grocery store at the proposed Hampstead Town Center on Highway 17 in Hampstead, five years after plans for the project were first drawn up.
In an announcement obtained exclusively by the Post & Voice, the grocery store chain said it had restarted work on a site it had selected in 2007.
“The Hampstead store is officially under construction,” Vice President of Real Estate Roger Henderson said. “We are hoping for an opening just before Memorial Day in 2013.”
After several years lying dormant due to trying economic conditions, earth-movers and port-a-johns were seen onsite this past weekend.
Media outlets had reported in November 2007 that ground was to be broken on the shopping center soon. Several years passed and Lowe’s terminated its agreement in 2010 after developers failed to meet an Aug. 1 deadline to begin work on the site.
Since that time, a Harris Teeter-supported shopping center was built nearby in Surf City.
Originally plans called for an additional 39,000 square feet of retail space to the Hampstead center, including planned tenants such as Two Guys Grille, Doctor’s Vision Center, Great Clips and Cooperative Bank. There is no word yet on if any returning or new tenants had committed to space in the center.
The Winston-Salem-headquartered company has four stores in Wilmington and additional locations in Leland, Shallotte and Southport.
Jason Tyson Post & Voice Staff Writer
Thependerpost.com