Ti woman helped land Lowe's development

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Lohr McKinstry

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April 19, 2009

By LOHR McKINSTRY The Press Republican Fri May 14, 2010, 07:29 PM EDT

TICONDEROGA — A Ticonderoga woman may have been instrumental in bringing a Lowe's home center to the Four Corners here.

Jorja Sanders of Sanders Realty said she convinced a Lowe's scout to tour the area, and then did research for the home-improvement giant on traffic patterns and home ownership.

Lowe's opened a 102,000-square-foot store on Wicker Street in Ticonderoga in March.

It started when she learned Lowe's scout Len Liguori was staying at the Ticonderoga Super 8 Motel, Sanders said.

"He had been sent here to scope out the area."

She and her husband, Lewis, went over and talked with him. He told them he didn't believe a Lowe's would work in Ticonderoga, but they asked for a chance to show him around.

"We took him all over," she said. "He was just amazed. By the time we were finished, he wanted to buy property here."

One of the things requested were sales statistics from the Wal-Mart SuperCenter at the Four Corners. Lowe's ended up purchasing land next to Wal-Mart from Ticonderoga farmer Lee Catlin.

"Lowe's also wanted the number of building permits issued on both sides of the lake," she said. "They wanted the usual demographics."

She said she went to town offices around Lake Champlain in New York and Vermont compiling information.

Lowe's Companies Inc. representatives in Mooresville, N.C., would not confirm or deny Mrs. Sanders's involvement with the new store.

"For competitive reasons, I'm unable to provide details of the process we follow when evaluating possible sites for stores," Public Relations Manager Karen Cobb said Friday.

Cobb said she could not comment further.

According to the Long Island Business News, Lowe's often uses a commercial real-estate brokerage to help scout sites. Lowe's operates about 1,650 stores in the United States and Canada.

Completing the study took nine months, Mrs. Sanders said, and construction of a Ticonderoga Lowe's was approved three months after it was submitted.

"Then the fun of acquiring the property began."

The project reportedly took 15 months to get final approval from the Ticonderoga Town Planning Board. A permit from the Adirondack Park Agency was also required, because even though the site was in a hamlet area, a wetland on the property and the height of the building triggered APA review.

Part of the permitting process was the flying of test balloons to check how visible the new store would be from various roads, and that cost $3,500, Mrs. Sanders said.

"It was a difficult process for them (Lowe's). I think it's important that we as a community support this store. Other developers will come here now and be looking. We have to grow this whole idea."

She said three more national retail chains have expressed an interest in locating in Ticonderoga since Lowe's.

"That will create another bunch of jobs. We want to make our community better than what it was."

E-mail Lohr McKinstry at: lmckinstry@pressrepublican.com