Board to hear plan for Lowe's

The Thursday meeting is the first step toward clearing the way for Lowe's to build a 135,500 square-foot store on Park Boulevard.

By ANNE LINDBERG

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 5, 2000

PINELLAS PARK -- A city board is poised to make a decision Thursday that could clear the first hurdle for a Lowe's home improvement store to be built in Pinellas Park.

The Planning and Zoning Commission will consider changing zoning on about 30.6 acres of land at 7301 Park Blvd. Much of the land is now zoned residential. Zoning commissioners will decide if the entire parcel can become commercial.

In turn, the matter will go before the Pinellas Park City Council later this month and again next month for a final decision.

If all goes well, the land likely will be the site of a Lowe's and a grocery store as well as some smaller retail businesses, according to documents submitted to city officials.

The possible addition of Lowe's to the western end of the city is only one of many projects about to get under way in Pinellas Park.

Among the others are the multimillion dollar renovation of the Richard L. Sanders Exceptional School, an expansion of retail space for Rooms to Go and the expansion of Ethan Allen's warehouse.

Those projects will join other construction changes already going on, including new movie theaters at ParkSide mall and upscale office buildings farther west on Park Boulevard.

"Times are really good, and we're a great location," said Pinellas Park assistant city manager Mike Gustafson in explaining the building activity.

Helping that is Pinellas Park's business-friendly attitude, he said. Most of the employees in the city's building department once worked in private industry and remember what it was like to deal with governments. They know, he said, that it's important to find ways for businesses to work within the system and for the system to give quick answers.

While officials are pleased with the expansion of already existing businesses, the addition of a Lowe's would be a real plus for Pinellas Park. The Lowe's would help frame the city's western limit, much as the Home Depot helps set off the corridor along the city's eastern border.

The property that would house Lowe's runs from Belcher Road to 74th Street and from Park Boulevard to 78th Avenue. The Lowe's would be about 135,500 square feet, according to plans.

It would be about halfway between the rival Home Depots in Pinellas Park and Seminole and would be about a third larger than either of those stores.

At the other end of the city, Rooms to Go at 7035 U.S. 19 N wants to expand its 16,000-square-foot showroom. If all goes well, the discount furniture store will take over the used car dealership immediately north of the store at 7085 U.S 19 N to build a 7,900-square-foot addition.

Nearby Ethan Allen, which sells upscale furniture, also wants to expand.

Ethan Allen, 8921 U.S. 19 N, wants to increase its 18,729-square-foot warehouse by 10,500 square feet.

The Pinellas County School District is also getting ready to make some changes. School officials recently submitted a plan to renovate Richard L. Sanders Exceptional School, 4960 78th Ave. N.

Construction for the $8-million project should start sometime in October and be finished in late 2001 or early 2002.

If you're interested

The Planning and Zoning Commission will meet at 7:30 p.m. Thursday to consider rezoning property from residential to commercial to make way for a Lowe's home improvement store. The Planning and Zoning meeting will be in City Hall, 5141 78th Ave. N. For information, call Tom Shevlin, zoning director, 541-0700.

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