Home Depot Plans Expo Design Center

After relocating to a 150,000-square-foot building next to Target on Teller Road, Home Depot is now planning to revamp its former site nearby into an interior design center.

Company officials want to demolish the 120,000-square-foot building at 500 N. Ventu Park Road and replace it by next year with a 105,000-square-foot Expo Design Center, which they say could bring 150 to 200 jobs to town.

Expo, Home Depot’s interior design division, originally opened in San Diego in 1991 and has 15 locations throughout the country. An additional 26 are scheduled to open by the end of the year and 200 more by 2005, officials said.

Expo centers pick up where Home Depot leaves off, said Melissa Watkins, a company spokeswoman. Staffed by professional designers, Expo centers have showrooms with furnishings for home remodeling projects, she said.

“At an Expo, you won’t find building materials, but you will find rugs and tiles from around the world,” Watkins said.

Before the Expo center is built city planners still must evaluate the traffic, environmental and noise concerns that another center would bring to the area, said Rick Burgess, an associate city planner.