PORTSMOUTH � A "highly anticipated national retail grocery chain" is making plans to take over the former Shaw's location at 1600 Woodbury Ave., but the identity of that grocery retailer is a secret for the time being, said attorney Chris Mulligan.

"Everyone's going to love it," teased Mulligan, who, with his law partner John Bosen, is representing the property owner for work related to land-use applications. Asked if the mystery grocer would provide an alternative to the nearby Market Basket grocery store, Mulligan said it would be, "like another planet."

The Portsmouth lawyer said the identity is not yet public because a contract has not been signed.

The Shaw�s supermarket closed its Woodbury Avenue location in February after 26 years, due to under-performance, the company announced. The building, in the Durgin Plaza, has been vacant since.

In a letter to city Planning Director Juliet Walker, Mulligan reports he represents the land owner, DPF 1600 Woodbury Avenue LLC, which is planning "a substantial redevelopment of the Durgin Plaza shopping center to accommodate the introduction to Portsmouth of a major national supermarket chain" in the former Shaw's space.

The redevelopment plans include demolition of a 2,800-square-foot building on the lot, which Mulligan said now houses the Game Stop store, to create a main driveway. The existing supermarket space will be "repurposed into 4,147 square feet of separate, unrelated retail space, and 41,980 square feet of supermarket space, including up to 1,000 square feet of cafe space as an accessory use, and up to 58 outdoor seating spaces," Mulligan wrote to the city planner.

No change to the former Shaw's building footprint is proposed, according to the notice to the city.

Plans do call for a new sign, at the proposed new driveway, and Bosen is expected to request a variance for that sign at the Dec. 17 city Board of Adjustment meeting. Survey maps, site plans, proposed sign locations and floor plans were submitted to the city, all without the name of the interested grocer.

Mulligan said the grocery chain is expected to sign a contract in the near future, at which time its identity will be made public.