Business & Tech

Case Closed: 'Ring Road' Can be Built to Link Lowe's, Walmart, Home Depot

Ohio Supreme Court refuses to hear arguments

The Ohio Supreme Court has declined to hear a case about a  that would connect the retail stores on Pearl Road at Sprague and Whitney roads.

That gives a green light for an interior access road that would link the Pearl-Sprague stores -- which are now  and  -- with the stores just south -- the Lowe's at Pearl and Whitney, according to Law Director Ken Kraus.

"We've felt all along the road was needed for the safety of motorists, as well as their convenience," Kraus said.

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He said there is more than $90,000 in an escrow fund to pay for construction of the roadway.

Home Depot has objected to the ring road because it would connect its home improvement store to Lowe's, its main competitor.

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Original plans show the internal road allowing motorists to go from Home Depot to Lowe's  -- all the way from Sprague to Whitney -- without exiting onto Pearl Road.

The road was supposed to be built by Lowe's and former project developer David Lewanski, but construction was blocked by Home Depot's lawsuit.

The court eventually ruled in favor of Lowe's, Lewanski and the city. Home Depot appealed, and earlier this year, the Eighth District Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 that Home Depot raised no valid objections to the lower court's decision, Kraus said.

Home Depot then went to the Ohio Supreme Court, but the court this week declined jurisdiction in the case, Kraus said.

Council President Mike Daymut has said the intent of the road was to alleviate traffic on the main roads in that area.

In fact, Daymut said, the issue actually stretches back to the 1990s, when Builder's Square first moved into the site that is now Home Depot. Even then, he said, plans called for a ring road to be put in to access any other businesses that might be built to the south.


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