LEWISTON – A portion of the long-dormant former Ames Department Store is under construction, transforming the old party-and-paper-goods section into a new Chinese restaurant.
Owners of the New China Super Buffet expect to be open by the end of November. The restaurant is the fourth Zhang-family franchise in Maine. The Massachusetts-based company specializes in serving Chinese food in grand buffets.
“It’s really good food actually,” said Jay Wise of WRE, the realty company that brokered the deal. One of the franchises, The Great Wall of China, is about a mile from his Portland office on Brighton Avenue. The other Maine locations are Waterville and Brewer.
The restaurant will occupy about 10,000 square feet of the former store; another 63,000 square feet remains vacant.
Wise said he is hustling to find more tenants and expects two or three more retailers will be needed to fill the space.
“It’s good we’re beginning to breathe some life back into it,” he said.
The store has been empty since October 2002 after Ames’ parent company declared bankruptcy and closed stores nationwide. Shaw’s Supermarket bought the building in July of 2003. It was sold to Alpine Realty Co. of Portland on Sept. 15 of this year with a deed covenant that stipulates the space cannot be used as a supermarket for as long as Shaw’s operates its store across East Avenue.
Combined with the parking lot, the whole parcel spans 6.6 acres and 288,000 square feet. It opened in 1969 as a Zayre department store, converting to Ames in 1988.
Wise said the store is in good shape, despite being vacant for so long. The heat was kept on during the winter months and the building is structurally sound.
“We’re hoping to get other tenants in there ASAP,” said Wise.
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