A Massachusetts commercial real estate firm wants to redevelop a former auto racetrack in Scarborough into huge warehouse space.

A subsidiary of Eastern Retail Properties of Braintree, Massachusetts, is seeking town approval of a site inventory and analysis review for the former Beech Ridge Motor Speedway on Holmes Road, the first step in Scarborough’s planned development process.

The developers will meet with the Scarborough Planning Board next week to outline potential plans to redevelop the property, the initial step of a three-stage process in seeking town approval as a planned development.

Owner Andy Cusack announced in September that he had reached a deal to sell the auto racing oval and adjacent property, which is zoned for industrial use, to out-of-state developers.

Initial plans the developer will present to the board call for either one huge, 700,000-square-foot warehouse or two warehouses – one measuring 240,000 square feet and another covering 300,000 square feet. A typical Walmart Supercenter is about 180,000 square feet.

But the developer won’t be held to either plan, Town Planner Jay Chace said. The first step of the process is designed to allow the developers and town to get a sense of the lay of the land and what kind of development might take place. For instance, the developers’ plan shows wetlands along the eastern and southern edges of the property, making that area unsuitable for development.

Chace said the second step calls for a master plan for developing the property, with a more definitive siting of any buildings. The third and final step is a site plan review, which Chace said involves a final plan for any buildings, parking, traffic routing, lighting, stormwater drainage, grading and other details.

Officials at Eastern Retail Properties did not return a reporter’s phone calls, but Chace said he doesn’t believe the developers have any tenants locked down. He said the town’s initial review can help with marketing the property.

Karen Martin, president and executive director of the Scarborough Economic Development Corp., said there is big demand for warehouse space in southern Maine.

“We do not have any indication of who the client may be,” and the developer could move ahead with plans on spec and fill the space after it’s built, she said.

“Amazon is the first thing that’s thrown out when a large warehouse is brought up,” she said, but her agency hasn’t gotten any sign that the online retail giant is looking for a site in Maine.

Regardless of who the final tenant is, Martin said, the site is prime for warehouse because it’s only about a mile to the exit 42 interchange on the Maine Turnpike.

“It’s great from a location standpoint,” she said.

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