Lowe's will break ground Wednesday on a new store in Sanford to replace the one destroyed by a tornado on April 16.

The store, which will be built on the same site, will have 103,000 square feet of retail space and an adjacent 34,000-square-foot garden center.

It is expected to be finished by September, said Jaclyn Pardini, a spokeswoman for the Mooresville home improvement chain.

According to the company, the store represents a $10 million investment.

The reopening will also return the store's 160 employees to Sanford. After the tornado, all the workers were placed in other area Lowe's stores, Pardini said.

In addition, in honor of its employees, the company is donating $750,000 to the American Red Cross National Disaster Relief Fund. That's in addition to money raised via customer donations at Lowe's stores nationwide between April 20 to May 22. That effort raised nearly $60,000 that also will go to the American Red Cross.