From the April 25, 2003 print edition of the Charlotte Business Journal

Area's growth attracts steady flow of retailers

by Bea Quirk  

University City is a retail developer's dream: the top submarket for new home sales in Charlotte for the past five years, a 125% increase in population from 1990 to 2000, and a retail vacancy rate of 3.3%. So it's no wonder that while development has slowed in many other sectors, new retail is blooming at University City.

"It's a fast-growing area, and there are more and more houses. Those people have got to have convenient retail," says Bart Hopper, a retail broker at New South Properties.

That frequently means the development of neighborhood centers. New South Properties is working with developer David Miller on Cochran Commons, an 85,000-square-foot center at Mallard Creek and Mallard Creek Church roads with a Harris Teeter store as the anchor.

New South will also develop a small retail center, as yet unnamed, at Old Sugar Creek Road and W.T. Harris Boulevard, says the company's senior retail advisor, Robert Sule.

Meanwhile, Crosland Retail has begun work on a Food Lion store at Cheshire Place, a 75,000-square-foot center at Sugar Creek Road and W.T. Harris Boulevard.

Developers are also building mixed-use centers that include housing and office space, as well as a retail component. The 58-acre Eastfield Village, at Eastfield and Prosperity Church roads, will feature 75,000 square feet of retail, 51 single-family homes, 135 townhomes and 5,000 square feet of office space. Developer George Maloomian of Cambridge Properties says the anchor, a Lowes Foods store, will open in a year.

Crescent Resources controls 200 acres at the Interstate 85-City Boulevard interchange where it's planning a mixed-use development dubbed University Commons. Crescent recently started the zoning process, says Mike Wiggins, retail vice president; initial plans call for 100,000 to 125,000 square feet of neighborhood retail and a much larger lifestyle shopping component, plus some office space and multifamily.

"The growth potential is huge," Wiggins says. "The median household income here is higher than the average for the county. There are 60,000 people living in a three-mile trade area of the center and 130,000 within a five-mile radius."

Although the specifics aren't yet set, Sule says the second phase of Grand Promenade will be several times larger than the first and include national retailers and restaurants. The center is at U.S. Highway 29 and Harris Boulevard; its first phase features 115,000 square feet of small-shop space.

The retail growth of University City is expanding beyond the borders of Mecklenburg County into Cabarrus County. In Harrisburg, two centers are under development. Crescent Resources will begin construction soon on School House Commons on 16 acres on N.C. Highway 49. The anchor, Lowes Foods, will take 52,000 square feet of the 115,000-square-foot center.

Also in Harrisburg, J&B Development is creating Harrisburg Town Center, a mixed-use complex that will have 450,000 square feet of retail and 350,000 square feet of office. New South is handling the leasing, and while Sule says the retail will not include a grocery store, the center will have a strong restaurant component.

Sule says Harrisburg is attractive to retailers because of its proximity to the university, a lower tax rate than in Mecklenburg County and the strong reputation of the Cabarrus school system. It recently won liquor-by-the-drink, which will attract restaurants. Sule says the new ordinance was an important factor in landing Ciro's and SoHo Café at the Harrisburg Town Center.

Retail activity in University City isn't limited to new construction. Some existing centers are updating and sprucing up.

At Crosland's Towne Center Plaza, at Harris Boulevard and U.S. 29, a movie theater has been torn down, and 38,000 square feet of new space will become available.

About five years ago, Atlanta-based Ronus Properties purchased two adjoining centers, the Shoppes at University Place, a neighborhood center, and the Village at University Place, a power center built in the mid-1990s.

Ronus has changed the offerings at the original Shoppes (Old Navy has replaced Food Lion, for example) and merged the two centers into the 745,000-square-foot Shoppes at University Place.

Recently signed tenants include Talbot's, CargoKids!, Chico's, Music & Art Center, the Graduate Food & Pub and Café Carolina & Bakery, located in a renovated outparcel.

The redevelopment also includes renovating a 17,000-square-foot movie theater and finding a signature restaurant to replace Castaldi's.

Signage has improved, says James Downs, Ronus regional director of leasing, and a pedestrian bridge has been built connecting the power center with the University Hilton Hotel.

"The Hilton is the major convention hotel in northeast Charlotte," Downs says. "Their business helps us get more shoppers, and our location helps them attract conventions."