Welcome to the Business Journal Archives
Search for articles below, or continue to the all new BusinessJournalDaily.com now.
Search
NTB to Build Store at Old Putt-Putt Site
BOARDMAN, Ohio -- Work could get underway as soon as today on a new National Tire & Battery store on the site of the former Putt-Putt miniature golf course on South Avenue, a company official says.
NTW LLC purchased the site, at 7204 South Ave., from Sweet Pea Land LLC for $485,000, Edward J. Lewis Inc. in Youngstown announced Tuesday. The 1.6-acre site has been vacant for about 10 years, estimated Jim Grantz, the Lewis broker associate who represented Sweet Pea in the transaction. “It’s been a long time,” he said.
The new National Tire & Battery -- or NTB -- store, will be built across from its existing store in the Tiffany Square plaza, will be more modern and have a more efficient design than the retail outlet it replaces, said Harry Hewitt, eastern U.S. market development manager for TBC Corp. National NTB is one of several TBC brands, he said.
“As we move into a more modern era we’re doing much more than tires,” he said. After around 25 years in Tiffany Square’s endcap space, “We decided it was time to step out and build our own building and get a fresher image,” he continued.
The latest in a string of real estate agencies to market the property, Lewis had represented the site for about two or so years, Grantz said. This transaction was the third time he had it under contract – at one point a Popeye’s chicken restaurant was proposed for the land – but the earlier transactions didn’t go through.
Bids to build the new NTB retail store went out several weeks ago and the company was waiting for the legal clearance to move forward, Hewitt said. The sellers were in several parts of the country. “We had hoped to close two weeks ago. We finally got it done today,” he reported. He expects contractors to be “in the ground” by the end of the week if not today.
Barring complications by weather or otherwise, the plan is to open the store by mid-February, he said.
Cost of the project, inclusive of land acquisition, construction and new equipment, should be in the neighborhood of $1.6 million, Hewitt said.
Although the new space will be slightly smaller than the existing store -- 7,800 square feet compared to about 8,000 in the current location – the layout will be more efficient, with better lighting for employees. The new store design – which Hewitt believes Boardman shoppers might be the first to see – will incorporate elements such as interactive touch screens for customers to select products that were put in place at other stores over the past few months.
“From what I understand, it’s going to be really, really nice looking,” said Grantz said.
The new building will also feature a more modern waiting room, with big-screen televisions, “nice tile and nice furnishings” that will be more comfortable for customers waiting for work to be completed, Hewitt added.
Copyright 2014 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
CLICK HERE to subscribe to our twice-monthly print edition and to our free daily email headlines.