Sean C. Morgan
Bi-Mart is working out preliminary details necessary to open a new store in Sweet Home.
If all the pieces come together, Bi-Mart will construct the new store on the vacant property east of the Sweet Home Police Department and north of McDonald’s in the 2000 block of Main Street.
“We’re still doing all the due diligence,” said Dan Chin, chief financial officer for Bi-Mart, last week. “We still haven’t purchased these two parcels.”
That includes a highway access permit through the Oregon Department of Transportation, a cross-parking easement with the city of Sweet Home and an environmental study.
Bi-Mart must complete these steps before it purchases the property, which now has surveyor’s stakes.
“We are hoping to open a store there, but it’s pending all of these things for us,” Chin said.
The use is allowed outright in the zone, said city Community Development Director Carol Lewis. The city is currently writing comments on the access permit, but she said she doesn’t see any issues with the project.
The city Property Committee considered the request for a cross-parking easement following the regular City Council meeting on April 9.
The property is the site of an abandoned railroad depot that citizens had hoped to turn into an attraction, possibly as a base for an excursion train, more than a decade ago.
Chin said more details will be available later if the project moves forward.