BIDDEFORD — About two weeks ago, demolition and interior construction work began at the site where Biddeford’s newest supermarket will locate later this year.

Cranes, excavators and other heavy equipment are preparing the site of the former Lowe’s home improvement store at The Shops at Biddeford Crossing off Route 111.

Once work is completed, by late summer or the fall, the first Market Basket supermarket in Maine will open its doors.

“We’re excited to be coming to Maine,” said Market Basket Operations Manager David McLean.

Prior to making the decision to open a store in the state, he said, many Maine customers who traveled to New Hampshire to shop at one of the chain’s stores had “invited” the company to open a branch closer to them.

The new store will not only be good news for those consumers, but also for jobseekers.

With the opening of the store, about 300 to 350 new jobs will be created, said McLean; an estimated 15 to 20 percent of those will be full-time.

It’s too early to determine when work at the site will be complete and the new store will open, he said.

However, said McLean, a lot of the exterior work is weather dependent and “we’ve been very fortunate” in that area.

The Lowe’s store was 139,000 square feet, said City Planner Greg Tansley, in an interview earlier this month. Demolition work at the site will reduce the building size to 125,000 square feet, he said; 100,000 square feet will be used for the store and another as yet unnamed retail business or businesses will take up the remaining space.

At 100,000 square feet, the Market Basket in Biddeford would be one of the largest, if not the largest, supermarket in Maine, said McLean.

The company does have larger stores in other states, he said; in Chelsea, Mass., Londonderry, N.H. and Salem, N.H. there are branches that are 135,000 square feet.

In addition to reducing the size of the building, other changes will include removing the Lowe’s garden center to create additional parking; 650 parking spots will be associated with the store. There will also be landscaping, sewer and drainage work.

Site work began in mid-January, after the Planning Office approved the company’s request for a minor site plan change in a Jan. 8 letter from Tansley to the company’s engineering firm, Gorrill-Palmer  Consulting Engineers, Inc., in Gray.

According to McLean, if the Biddeford store does well, he expects the company, based in Tewksbury, Mass., will look to open more Maine stores.

— Staff Writer Dina Mendros can be contacted at 282-1535, Ext. 324 or [email protected].