Posted: 8/14/02

Home Depot eyes Kmart site in FL

It was nearly four years ago when the first published reports of The Home Depotís interest in Forest Lake first surfaced.

Now that interest appears headed toward reality.

Officials of the Atlanta-based retail giant confirmed this week they are moving ahead with plans to open a new store in the quarters left vacant this spring by the financially troubled Kmart Corporation. Forest Lakeís Big Kmart was one of six stores in Minnesota to close as part of the companyís bankruptcy proceedings.

It now appears that space wonít sit empty for long.

ìThe hope is to get in there in the latter fall and we hope to open in the early spring (of 2003),î said Jim McPhail of The Home Depot midwest real estate division in Chicago last week.

City Administrator Chip Robinson said city staff and representatives of The Home Depot have met twice to discuss engineering and redevelopment issues relating to the Kmart site.

The existing building is some 96,000 square feet and the plans calls for The Home Depot to use existing space with no expansion, Robinson said.

One change would involve the relocation of the garden center from the west side of the building to the east side, the administrator said.

ìI believe we are working out the redevelopment issues with the city now,î McPhail said.

When The Home Depot first went public with its plans to expand to Forest Lake in September of 1998, the retailer was looking at property on the east side of I-35 in the Bixby Park area.

But wetland issues and concerns never allowed the building project to get off the ground. The demise of Kmart has opened a new door for the corporate giant west of I-35 and The Home Depot is poised to make the move to Forest Lake.

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