TODAY’S CROSSWORD SOLUTION

TODAY’S SUDOKU SOLUTION

TODAY’S CELEBRITY CIPHER SOLUTION

K-mart construction announced for Rome

Two Rome highway contractors announced Saturday that they plan to begin construction immediately of a multi-million dollar

K-mart discount center on a site adjoining the campus of East Rome High School.

R.H. and A.W. Ledbetter Jr., who will develop the center and lease it to the S.S. Kresge Co., said plans call for a total development of 150,000 square feet in buildings. The initial project will cover 11 acres, leaving six acres for future developments.

The development will cost an estimated $2,400,000, and interim financing will be handled by the First

National Bank of Rome. The general contractor is Network Building Systems Inc. of Rome. Architects are Ralfe Mesrobian of Charlotte, N.C., and M.G. Turner of Rome.

The complex which will include a large discount center, a food store and an automobile center, is scheduled to open this fall. The food store will contain over 20,000 square feet of floor space and adjoin the K-mart which will contain 84,000 square feet of floor space. The food store will be operated under an agreement with Alterman Foods Inc. It will sell at discount prices and will be the largest in Northwest Georgia, the developers say.

The center will be the 15th of its kind in Georgia. The Ledbetters said Rome was chosen as the site “because of the city’s rapid economic and residential growth.”

An estimated 150 persons will be employed at the center, and parking spaces for more than 800 automobiles will be provided.

The center will stock “a complete assortment of department store merchandise at discount prices, an auto service center, a self-serve snack bar and an enclosed garden shop.” The S.S. Kresge Co, which operates more than 415 K-marts in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and Australia, was founded in 1899. The company hopes to open 65 to 70 more this year.

In a prepared statement the Ledbetters said: “We are delighted to bring the best discount chain in the United States to Rome and Floyd County. We have literally turned down seven other discount operators for these (K-mart) people.”