The company isn't saying how much it paid for the site and the information was not otherwise immediately available. The company does, however, say that the average cost of developing a new store is $14.9 million per location, including land costs. In addition, each new store requires approximately $3.5 million to finance inventories, net of vendor financing.

The acquisition by Home Depot means it will have another chance to build in Beaverton. In April, plans for a downtown store on property the company has optioned were shot down by the City's planning commission. The new project includes plans to rebuild a Chuck-E-Cheese restaurant currently operating on the Montgomery Ward property.

Home depot opened 118 new stores in the first half of 2001 -- compared to 81 stores opened during the first half of 2000 -- and plans to open a total of 200 new stores by the end of the year. Approximately 92% of these locations will be owned, and the remainder will be leased.