BOARDMAN — Meijer Stores Ltd. has purchased a piece of vacant, derelict land here, presumably for the gasoline station it wanted but wasn’t allowed to have near where the Michigan-based retailer is building a new store.

The $415,000 transaction for the 0.91-acre parcel at 965 Boardman Canfield Road closed Tuesday, according to documents filed with the Mahoning County Auditor’s office.

It’s where a gasoline station formerly stood and is less than 1 mile east from where Meijer is building a 159,000-square-foot supercenter near the intersection of Tippecanoe Road. The building is nearing completion and should open soon.

Meijer purchased the land at a sheriff’s sale. It’s already zoned general business, which permits gasoline stations, said Krista Beniston, Boardman zoning director. It still, however, must go through the normal review process and meet zoning standards, including stormwater, landscaping, lighting and buffering.

The land on the corner of Parkside Drive, a road leading to a residential neighborhood, has had some property maintenance issues, Beniston said. There have been complaints of high grass, trash and parked cars.

“Seeing it get redeveloped and come into compliance with updated standards, especially including stormwater, will be a benefit,” Beniston said.

Meijer hasn’t filed plans with the zoning department so Beniston didn’t speculate on what the retailer might want the land for. Company spokesman Frank Guglielmi said, “at this time we don’t have any specific plans or timeline for that site.”

Auditor’s office records show Clark Oil & Refining Corp. owned the property from 1988 to March 1998, when it was sold to Adapt Oil & Marketing Inc. for $30,000. Ohio Petroco Inc. acquired the land two years later for $106,358 and sold it to the previous owner, Ohio Energy LLC for $210,000 in March 2007.

The land is valued at $220,000 for tax purposes.

Last summer, the Boardman zoning commission, and then trustees, denied Meijer a zone change request for land at Tippcanoe Road and Lockwood Boulevard for a proposed 3,300-square-foot gasoline station.

Trustees, who had the final say, based their decision on concerns the request was not consistent with residential zoning surrounding the project despite Meijer adding a buffer zone to separate the building from residents.

The zoning commission in January first denied Meijer’s request, and a hearing on the matter before trustees in March was canceled when Meijer withdrew its application to go back to the drawing board after hearing concerns from residents on traffic flow and the station’s closeness to homes.

The land at 7104 and 7090 Lockwood Blvd. was zoned business and residential. Meijer sought all business zoning for the land. Combined, the two properties were about 2.3 acres.

Meijer has begun hiring for 300 positions at the store, 1420 Boardman Canfield Road.

rselak@tribtoday.com