Newton Citizen

COVINGTON - The Home Depot will not open a second store in Newton County any time soon, a spokeswoman said Friday.

Plans to open a store at the corner of Brown Bridge Road and Ga. Highway 212 are dead, said spokeswoman Sarah Molinari.

"We were looking at a potential store on that site at one time, but right now we're not considering any sites in the area. That doesn't mean we won't in the near future," Molinari said.

County commissioners rezoned the property from single-family residential to general commercial in March 2007.

A site plan presented by Home Depot included a 132,000-square-foot anchor store and five outparcels.

Molinari said she did not have more information about why the deal fell through.

"We look at deals all the time," she said, adding that developers often get rezonings before deals are final.

The rezoning applicant was South Harbor Development LLC. Representatives with South Harbor could not be reached for comment.

Home Depot opened a store on Ga. Highway 142 in the city of Covington in 2006.

Meanwhile, a Wal-Mart Supercenter planned for the intersection of Brown Bridge and Salem roads is expected to be under construction by summer or fall of this year, according to spokesman Glen Wilkins.

"Our plans are still a go. There's no intention of changing at this time," Wilkins said.

The store should be completed within 10 months of the construction start date, he said.

Wal-Mart also has a store on Ga. Highway 142.

Crystal Tatum can be reached at crystal.tatum@newtoncitizen.com.