City Planners approve Lowe's for Fairfield
By Ben Antonius | Daily Republic | May 12, 2010 22:32
FAIRFIELD - With a promise to bring in more than 100 jobs and potentially millions of future taxes, home improvement giant Lowe's got a unanimous thumbs-up Wednesday for a new Fairfield store.
Lowe's will build a 139,000-square-foot store near North Texas Street and Interstate 80 under a plan that got approval from the city's planning commission on Wednesday night. Lowe's will inhabit a parcel newly created as part of a project to rebuild the nearby I-80 interchange.
The commission's decision is the last word on the project unless somebody appeals to the City Council. There were no indications of such opposition on Wednesday night, however.
'We're blessed to even have them looking at this site,' said commissioner Ray Reyff. 'We should not delay that . . . for one minute.' . .
Including a 111,470-square-foot building and 27,615-square-foot garden center, Lowe's will likely employ 120 to 150 people, Anderson said. City planners have previously said the store could generate somewhere around $300,000 a year in sales tax and about $1.9 million in building fees. The city will also get about $5 million from selling the land for Lowe's, planners said Wednesday. . . .
Work at the site could start as soon as the summer. The new Fairfield store will not affect the prospects for the Lowe's in Vacaville, company officials said. The proximity is not uncommon for two stores, they said.
Reach Ben Antonius at 427-6977 or bantonius@dailyrepublic.net.
