BIDDEFORD — DSM Inc., the owner of the Market Basket grocery chain, has received regulatory approval for an $11 million redevelopment of the former Lowe’s site at the Shops at Biddeford Crossing.

DSM owns more than 60 Market Basket grocery store in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. The Biddeford Crossing location would be the first Market Basket site in Maine.

Additional Photos

In this October 2011 file photo, a customer reads the closed memo on the door as Lowe's at Biddeford Crossing. The former Lowe's is getting a new tenant and an $11 million makeover. John Patriquin/Staff Photographer

DSM, based in Tewksbury, Mass., did not return calls seeking comment.

The company plans to tear down the former garden center portion of the Lowe’s building, then renovate and expand the existing building to include a 107,000-square-foot grocery store, as well as additional retail space and parking, according to a land use permit filed with the state Department of Environmental Protection.

The total cost of the project is $11 million, financed through RMD Inc., the retail development arm of DSM. In the past three years, RMD has completed projects totaling $100 million without funding from a lending institution, according to the DEP application.

The DEP approved the project after a 35-day review.

“The department is proud its timely but thorough review will allow for the redevelopment of that recently vacated site and the creation of dozens of new jobs in southern Maine,” said Sam DePoy-Warren, DEP spokeswoman.

Lowe’s shut its Biddeford and Ellsworth locations last year as part of an effort to close 20 underperforming stores in 15 markets. A total of 101 workers lost their jobs at the Biddeford store.

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