Jan. 5—New year, new growth tops The Buzz for 2023. F.W. Webb, the wholesale distributor of construction and engineering goods such as plumbing, heating and air conditioning products, is expanding its Lewiston footprint.

The Bedford, Massachusetts-based company purchased property at 9 Lexington St., and is well into its build-out of a 70,000-square-foot building that will become a warehouse and showroom.

Local Manager Jake Veil said they've simply outgrown the space at nearby at 9 Forrestal St., where they've been for the past 23 years. The construction cost alone is estimated at $10.6 million and is expected to be completed by early fall.

Veil said the company has 28 employees and he anticipates some additions to the staff as they move into the new space.

A new Walgreens will be built at 297 Main St., on what is a vacant lot just south of the Walgreens across from Central Maine Medial Center. City planners have approved the $1.1 million project, but The Buzz has learned there are some changes to the original plan, which called for additional retail space. That has been downsized to a stand-alone Walgreens store.

Blackwater Resources of Birmingham, Alabama, is listed as the owner, with Hill Foley Rossi & Associates out of Duluth, Georgia, as the architecture and engineering firm.

While the project will be slightly delayed, Hill Foley Rossi & Associates expects work to begin in the second quarter of the year.

The end of the year was also the end of an era in Jay, with the closing of Yianni's House of Pizza at 206 Main St. The owner is retiring after serving the area for decades, according to Stathi Papanikolaou, whose family owns and operates Yianni's House of Pizza in South Paris. He told The Buzz that the South Paris location will be unaffected by the closure in Jay.

"We, here at the South Paris location, are continuing to operate as we have over the years," Papanikolaou wrote in an email response. He said they have not decided what to do with the building in Jay, which his family owns.