Home Depot, Lowe's stores move forward

By Nick Grabbe
Staff Writer

Published on August 29, 2008

HADLEY - Five years after two huge home-improvement chains announced plans for new stores on Route 9, Home Depot is nearing completion and Lowe's could start construction in the spring, said Building Inspector Timothy Neyhart.

Home Depot is expected to complete its 145,413-square-foot building on the corner of Route 9 and North Maple Street by the end of the month, Neyhart said. Construction started in April, and the store is scheduled to open Dec. 11, he said.

Contractors are pouring the floor this week and may start paving the parking lot in the front on Friday, he said. Most of the piping, heating and cooling systems are in place and the interior ceiling is painted, he said.

"You'll see a big difference at the end of the month," Neyhart said.

There will be new traffic lights at the intersection, he said. Route 9 has been widened near the Home Depot access road, and there will be a westbound lane for right turns into the parking lot, he said.

A second phase of development just west of Home Depot would include other retailers, but those stores have not been built or received permits yet, Neyhart said. Taco Bell is planning an outlet there, he said.

The Home Depot and Lowe's stores will increase Hadley's tax revenues by about $80,000 each, said Assessor Daniel Zdonek.

The 169,000-square-foot Lowe's store is planned just across from the Hadley Garden Center, and will bring a new traffic signal to Route 9. Neyhart said he expects a Lowe's representative to sign a buy-sell agreement with the landowner, Long Hollow Bison Farm, this week.

The company wants to begin site preparation this fall and start building next spring, he said. The Planning Board approved Lowe's final revised plan July 15, said Clerk William Dwyer.

There will be a widening of Route 9 and the installation of turning lanes, he said. It should be easier for vehicles coming from Amherst to turn left into the garden center and for exiting vehicles to turn left toward Northampton, he said.

But there are concerns over a 600-foot "sidewalk to nowhere" that the Mass. Highway Department is requiring on both sides of Route 9, Dwyer said. The Planning Board is bringing this issue before the Board of Selectmen tonight.

Dwyer said he is talking to state officials about "mitigation" of the impact of development that was planned when Wal-Mart was still planning a new superstore and the Home Depot project was bigger.

"The question is will the level of traffic generated by a reduced Home Depot and Lowe's warrants as many changes as originally specified," he said. This "mitigation," which includes turning lanes, sidewalks, and widening of intersections, could be "overkill," he said.

Nick Grabbe can be reached at ngrabbe@gazettenet.com.