Plans to build an Aldi Inc. store in Baldwin Township have stalled during ongoing negotiations to relocate a medical practice from the site of the proposed grocery.

Many township residents were elated when they learned in April that the German grocery chain planned to build a large store on the site of a former Foodland in the shopping center at the intersection of Sussex Avenue and McNeilly Road. The township has been without a grocery since January, when Foodland closed.

The Aldi plan called for work to begin by January to demolish the existing structure and construct a new building with an environmentally friendly design on the 25,000-square-foot property.

As part of its sale agreement with property owner Bernadette Perri, Aldi was to provide financial assistance for remaining tenants of the center to relocate, Ms. Perri has said.

Those tenants include McNeilly Hardware and UPMC Medical Associates, offices of Drs. Joseph Richetti, Paul Tepe and G. Richard Zimmerman. The practice has been located at 3089 Sussex Ave. for more than 20 years, and UPMC's lease does not expire until 2011.

Jim Weamer, 35, who has owned McNeilly Hardware for five years, has decided to close his business and not relocate, Ms. Perri said. But Aldi has been unable to reach an agreement to relocate the medical practice.

"Over the last several months, we have worked in good faith to negotiate mutually acceptable agreements to buy out leases with the existing tenants at the old Foodland site,'' Brent Laubaugh, vice president of Aldi's Saxonburg division, said last week.

"Although we were able to reach equitable terms with McNeilly Hardware, we have been unable to do so with UPMC," Mr. Laubaugh said.

Aldi officials and UPMC spokesman Frank Raczkiewicz declined to comment on the ongoing negotiations. Unless the impasse is resolved, Mr. Laubaugh said Aldi will delay construction of the store for three years.

"This delay is a disappointment for us, as I'm sure it will be for the many Baldwin Township residents who have expressed their excitement about having a new grocery option in their neighborhood," he said.

Ms. Perri said the sale of the property April 25 was the result of nearly a year of negotiations aimed at bringing a store to a community where residents are tired of driving to other communities to shop.

"No one thought that we'd run into any problem like this," she said.

Ms. Perri said UPMC, in exchange for agreeing to leave the shopping center before its lease expired, asked Aldi to provide another building and new equipment, although she did not provide specific details.

"I'd just like to see them leave. The lack of a grocery store is killing the area," she said.

Longtime resident Theresa Frisoli said she, too, is frustrated.

"The people of our community really need a store like Aldi. There are a lot of elderly residents who don't drive and used to walk to the Foodland. It especially is a difficult situation for them," she said.

Her daughter, Eileen Frisoli, president of the township's board of commissioners, agreed.

"We hope the matter can be resolved in a more timely fashion," she said. "The lack of a local grocery store has caused problems for many of our residents and has adversely affected our tax revenues."