Lowe’s completion date moved up to late-October
By Emily Sorensen
The new Lowe’s home improvement store is expected to be open by late-October, several months ahead of earlier projections.
According to Bob Manis, the city’s director of development services, Lowe’s has finished demolition and grading of its new lot, located on Poway Road where the Toyota of Poway and Chevrolet dealerships used to be. The project was approved by the City Council in September of 2011.
Lowe’s is building a 121,000-square-foot store, a 31,658-square-foot garden center and a 4,500-square-foot separate business pad on the property. Construction will include traffics lights at Poway Road and Gate Drive.
Lowe’s has pulled its building permit and Manis said the company will begin to pour foundation this week. “They said they want to be open by the end of October,” said Manis. “It sounds like they’re moving quickly.”
In other retail news, the new Smart & Final store opened for business on Wednesday, with a grand opening celebration and giveaways. The 23,000-square-foot store is housed in the former Michaels arts and crafts space at 12339 Poway Road.
The store has a full range of groceries in both bulk and non-bulk sizes, said Manis.
Perry Ford of Poway, at 12740 Poway Road, has also begun its remodel, with demolition finished. The car dealership currently has a grading permit, and Manis said that Perry Ford does not expect grading to take very long. “They will probably pull their building permits in a week or so, to start construction on the new building,” said Manis.
The new building will be 17,500 square feet and will be built next to the existing 14,500-square-foot repair center. It will be 30-feet high and have earth tone exterior colors. A key design feature will be a 30-by-100-foot-wide curved glass window wall, as well as a 35-foot, stand-alone clock tower. The remodel plans were approved by the City Council last August.
The former ReMax building, at 12411 Poway Road, on the corner of Poway and Pomerado, has been purchased, Manis said. The new owner has done some landscape cleanup and has obtained a demolition permit for some small interior demolitions, including ceilings. There is no proposal for use of the building filed yet. “There have been some inquiries [as to what it can be used for], but there are not concrete plans right now.”
Construction on the Walmart remodel is continuing, with a completion date aimed at somewhere in mid-to-late August, said Manis. This is a delay from the initial completion date Walmart gave of June, due to small construction delays.
The expansion has added a second entrance and will include a full grocery store. The expansion plans were approved by the City Council in 2011 after intense public debate.
