NORWALK, CT—Lowe's Home Improvement has signed a long-term ground lease for its new one-story 150,000-square-foot store to be built at 100 Connecticut Ave. here.

The deal with property owner Hall Investments Ltd. of Great Neck, NY was reported by brokerage firm Cushman & Wakefield. Before construction of the new store officially begins, the existing 120,000-square-foot office building currently at the 100 Connecticut Ave. site will be demolished.

Cushman & Wakefield's Thomas J. O'Leary, senior director, represented Hall Investments in the transaction. David Smookler, Joe Mastromonaco and Ted Gildea of the Dartmouth Company represented Lowe's Home Improvement.

The conversion of the property from office to retail has been approved by local regulatory authorities. Initially, the conversion of the site to big-box retail required a second story. Hall Investments held discussions with the City of Norwalk, eventually proposing an amendment to the zoning regulations that revised the minimum building height requirements for retail buildings in selected areas that were more than 80,000 square feet. After several public hearings, the Norwalk Zoning Commission granted Lowe's approvals for the store at 100 Connecticut Ave. The project is expected to create approximately 150 construction jobs and at least 130 full-time and part-time jobs once the store opens in the first quarter of 2015.

Jeff Gellerman, director of real estate acquisitions in the Northeast region for Lowe's says of its planned Norwalk location, “It has been a long-term objective for Lowe's to have a presence in lower Fairfield County and 100 Connecticut Avenue is the ideal location for us. We are extremely excited about this new store and we're very appreciative to our representative, the Dartmouth Company, and to Cushman & Wakefield for helping us attain the necessary zoning variance to bring this transaction to fruition.”