New plaza, Walgreens going up in Austintown

A Walgreens is going to be built near Meridian Road.

AUSTINTOWN — Two new developments are under way in the township.

One, a $600,000 construction project, will be a 13,200-square-foot strip mall on Mahoning Avenue, said township zoning inspector Michael Kurilla.

The new strip mall will be built to the west of the Austintown Plaza, he said.

He said he had no information on what stores would be moving in once the plaza is finished.

It is being developed by the same corporation that developed the Austintown Plaza, he said, but he was unsure if it would be considered a part of that plaza or a separate entity.

He said shoppers will be able to drive into the new plaza from two entrances off Mahoning Avenue — through the Austintown Plaza entrance or from a road between two bank buildings to the east.

There was no one available to comment last week at B&I Management Co., which is the corporate identity of Austintown Plaza.

Kurilla said another building project, a Walgreens on Lexington Place near Meridian Road, also is going up.

Ten homes on the east side of Lexington have been demolished to make way for the $2 million, 14,280-square-foot drugstore.

Site preparation should be done before bad winter weather, and the building should be going up within six months, said Michael Lewis of Visconsi Companies, Walgreens’ real estate developer.

The store should be open by this summer, Lewis added.