Lowe's files plan for new W.Va. store

July 29, 1997

By DON AINES

Staff Writer, Martinsburg

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - The hardware giant Lowe's recently submitted a preliminary plan for a home improvement center in Berkeley County on W.Va. 45, but a company official would not say whether it will be built any time soon.

"We do not announce anything until we actually have leased or purchased a property," said Clarissa Felts of Lowe's Investor Relations Department. She said the "sketch plat" sent to the Berkeley County Planning Commission is submitted by the company when it's looking at a particular property.

She said the company has not closed a deal on any property in the Martinsburg area.

In this case, the site is along W.Va. 45 near the New York Avenue intersection outside the Martinsburg city limits. Lowe's already has a store located at 1130 Winchester Ave.

The company does not state how big the center would be in the documents filed with the county, but it did say the site would have 600 parking spaces.

According to Berkeley County Director of Planning Harry Carter, a sketch plat is preliminary plan for the use of a property. If Lowe's decides to go ahead with building there, the next step would be a preliminary plat, which would be subject to a public hearing, he said.

"We are in the most aggressive expansion plan in our history," Felts said from Lowe's headquarters in North Wilkesboro, N.C. That includes building 60 to 65 stores this year and raising the number of stores from the present 412 to 600 in the year 2000.

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