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New stores, new mall
By
DAVID HULSE
MONTICELLO — With New York State’s
recent approval of an updated traffic flow plan for
balky Route 42 last week, the door opened for additional
retail development, Thompson Supervisor Tony Cellini
said.
That development includes a franchised
Applebee’s Restaurant, an Auto Zone auto parts
store and the new anchor of it all, a 95,000 square-foot
Home Depot store.
The Home Depot, which also operates
a Middletown store and is building another in Westfall
Township in Pike County, will be located adjoining
the Shoprite market, which is also planning a 10,000
square-foot expansion.
The existing closed structure, which
housed a now-defunct Ames Department Store, will be
demolished to expand parking for what Cellini says
will now be called the Thompson Square Mall.
The new project
was scheduled to come before the Thompson Planning
Board on August 28. Cellini said he expects construction
to begin sometime during the winter months.
Thompson is selling approximately 3.5
acres of property, east of the town hall, to the developers
and the deal includes the reconfiguration and expansion
of town hall parking and the new landscaping. No tax
breaks have been offered to the developers, Cellini
added.
But key to the project are planned
highway changes to improve traffic flow on Rt. 42,
which often becomes jammed with exiting mall traffic
amid three nearby traffic lights.
Cellini said the new plan includes
hard-wire synchronization of the lights, the addition
of another left turn lane on the entrance arterial
road and the addition of another southbound lane on
Route 42.
The developers, Columbia Development
Corporation, Park Place Entertainment and Louis Capelli’s
Concord organization will pay for the improvements.
“It affects them all,” Cellini said.
In addition to the Home Depot, Cellini
said the Lowes Home Improvement Warehouse chain is
also actively seeking a location in the immediate
area. Cellini said he anticipates considerably more
development along other adjoining roads.
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