Lowe’s Home Improvement Warehouse reportedly is interested in moving a facility into the DeKalb area.

A decision should be made within about two weeks, DeKalb City Manager Mark Biernacki said.

However, DeKalb is in competition with a site in Rockford and two sites in Wisconsin, Community Development Director Paul Rasmussen said.

If Lowe’s does decide to move to DeKalb, it will build its 1.3 million-square-foot distribution center and millworking plant in DeKalb’s industrial area, Park 88, which is located north of I-88.

The plant and distribution center could bring between 600 and 700 new jobs to the area, Biernacki said.

“It is our understanding that if they locate here, they will bring in both buildings,” he said.

DeKalb is a more central location and would be the best place to move trucks to the Lowe’s stores around this area and Chicagoland, Rasmussen said.

“We are optimistic that they will locate here,” Biernacki said. “They are going to take the most competitive and most cost-efficient offer.”

The tax abatement that was approved by DeKalb School District 428 at its last meeting was for Lowe’s, Rasmussen said.

The tax abatement is a way to provide incentives for commercial and industrial businesses to locate to DeKalb.

The agreement was that the new business only would have to pay 10 percent of the property taxes the first year, 20 percent the second year, 30 percent for the third year, 40 percent for the fourth year and 50 percent for the fifth year. In the sixth year, the business will be responsible for paying 100 percent of the property taxes.

The property tax abatement incentive was a crucial part in making the DeKalb location more attractive, Rasmussen said.

A time table for building the distribution plant has not been announced, but Biernacki said a project of this magnitude usually takes 18 months to complete.

The city is interested in bringing the warehouse here, not only for the new jobs but because only 7 percent of DeKalb’s tax revenue is from industrial use, Rasmussen said. Twenty-seven percent is from retail and the rest is from property tax owners.

“We made our best shot,” he said.

Rasmussen said Lowe’s has been looking at the DeKalb location for about two months.

Roger Hopkins, DeKalb County Economic Development Committee executive director, said he didn’t want to comment on the deal until something official happened.

Jennifer Smith, spokeswoman for Lowe’s, said the company has made no announcements about moving a warehouse into the DeKalb area and will make no comment on whether any talks were in session.