Going over the line
Mixed-use project will change the face of Union County retail
Jennifer Boyd Sidden, Charlotte Business Journal
A 168-acre development planned for a key crossroads in Waxhaw could boost the town's tax base by nearly $1 million, bringing commercial businesses and retail shops to an underserved market.
GS Carolina, a development team comprising Tom Scott and David Guy, is proposing a mixed-use project that will blend housing, shops and offices on N.C. Highway 16. When completed, the development will be valued at $118 million, Scott says.
The development has been named Cureton, after the Cureton Inn built on a trade route by early area settlers. Plans call for 495,000 square feet of retail, 60,000 square feet of offices and 381 single-family homes and townhomes.
Cuthbertson Road will be realigned to serve as a Main Street into the development. That street, to be lined with specialty retail shops, will lead to larger, anchor retail stores, such as two supermarkets that have already expressed interest in the project.
"People want convenient shopping, and I think Waxhaw is really forward thinking in making sure they have a shopping center nearby," Scott says.
Waxhaw has little retail for the town's 5,000 residents, so many of its citizens travel to Pineville or the shopping centers around the Providence Road interchange of Interstate 485 to shop. That means sales tax dollars are lost to other counties, Waxhaw officials say.
"The concept is to provide residents quality shopping here in Union County," says Bill Reule Sr., a Waxhaw-based commercial real estate location consultant who has assisted GS Carolina with the project. "This will keep the state sales tax dollars coming back into Union County and the town of Waxhaw to pay for needed services."
While most bedroom communities around Charlotte have started to discourage growth in recent years, Waxhaw has welcomed it. But so much of that development has been residential that just 5% of the town's property tax revenue comes from commercial sources.
That's why town officials are so eager to embrace the Cureton project.
"We're a real town, and we have support services to pay for," says Mike Simpson, Waxhaw town administrator. "We can't depend on a residential tax base to pay for that because you can't bleed people dry, and we won't. We need a commercial tax base to pay the bills."
He estimates Cureton, with its mix of commercial, retail and residential uses, will generate nearly $500,000 per year in property taxes for the town. That, coupled with the town's share of sales and inventory taxes from the shops, should boost the tax base an additional $500,000, Simpson says.
While the Cureton project does call for more housing, Simpson realizes a town must have enough rooftops before it can attract retailers. Residents of Cureton's 381 homes are expected to be in easy walking distance of the development's shops and restaurants.
"The demand for the commercial and residential aspects of this project is incredible," Reule says. "(Due to) the fact that there is so little development in this part of the county, other than houses on 1 acre, I predict the project will sell out as quickly as it can be built."
Builders have not been selected for the project, but Scott expects home prices to range from about $150,000 to $325,000. The housing will be its most dense closest to the retail section, with townhomes fanning out to lots increasing in width from 50 to 72 feet.
"Even if you start out in a townhome, why should you have to move if you want a bigger house?" Scott says of the variety in home sizes and prices that will be available.
About 40 acres in Cureton will be left as open space, with pocket parks, ponds and greenways winding throughout. That greenway system will connect Cureton and the adjacent 263-home Quellin neighborhood GS Carolina is developing.
Homeowners will enter the residential community via an entryway that's separate from the retail entrance off Providence Road. A clubhouse, pool and other amenities will greet them.
Developers and town officials envision the project as a gateway into Waxhaw. "It's very exciting," says Tom Hall, Waxhaw mayor pro tem. "It's a top-quality development. It helps meet the amenity needs of our current residents, as well as developing some spaces for our future residents."
GS Carolina's capital partners, the Sandler brothers of Virginia Beach,Va., bought the property for $6.5 million in February after Union County put it out for bid. Waxhaw annexed the property and has been working with the development team on the Cureton plan.
The developers made their first public presentation to the town Monday night and received positive feedback.
Scott anticipates receiving site plan approval for the 65-acre retail and commercial components and zoning approval for the 103-acre residential section from the town by September. Once those approvals are secured, his team will begin formal discussions with home builders.
Work will start on the residential development first, with retail development following as the housing base grows. It could take as long as seven years to complete the project, but Cureton's Main Street will be part of the first phase, the developers say.
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