For $2.75 million, discount grocery store chain Lidl has bought land in Wilmington where the company plans to build a 36,000-square-foot grocery store.

Arendelle Holdings LLC, managed by Jason Swain of Swain & Associates, on April 15 sold part of the property at 1451 Eastwood Road to Lidl US Operations LLC, according to a deed recorded in New Hanover County.

Arendelle had purchased the entire 8 acres at that address from Wetherill Family Land LLC on March 31 for nearly $2.9 million, a deed and New Hanover property tax records show.

Site plans under review by the city of Wilmington show the proposed Lidl grocery store on Eastwood, along with the rough outline of a future building on another part of the property.

"We acquired the property, sold a portion of it and have retained the remaining property," Swain said Monday in an email. "We do not yet have fully defined plans for our remaining property but are currently permitted to develop a two-story, 20,400-square-foot office/retail building on the site."

Efforts to obtain more information from Lidl representatives were not immediately successful Monday. Mike Prince, a local broker with Impact Properties, said he was involved in the Eastwood Road transaction on behalf of Lidl.

Founded in Germany with U.S. headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, Lidl (pronounced lee-dle) has thousands of stores in Europe. National news reports have for the past several months chronicled Lidl’s plans to expand into the United States grocery store market by 2018.

A Business Insider story in November said a Lidl store is “like a cross between Walmart and Trader Joe’s.”

Lidl, discount grocery chain Aldi, and Publix Super Markets have all shown interest in locating stores to the Wilmington area in years, and Wilmington's first Publix is under construction at 716 Bragg Drive off South College Road.

"I think the growing number of grocery stores in our market indicates that retailers have learned what we have all known for a long time - Wilmington has a bright future," Swain said in an email.  "As we continue to grow, there will be more need for goods and services in our community. Retailers are trying to best position themselves to be an integral part of that growth in the near and long term."