Central corridor of Chesterfield's Westchester Commons attracts few tenants

Nearly seven months after its grand opening, the central "main street" area of Westchester Commons in Chesterfield County remains empty with little hope of finding tenants anytime soon.

While the outer parcels of the 845,000-square-foot center have largely been leased, the pedestrian-friendly central corridor is eerily vacant with only two tenants in the nearly quarter-mile stretch of the development. The economic downturn, which has forced retailers to scale back expansion plans and has slowed home building in the area, could mean it will remain that way for some time.

"There is no doubt that's the most challenging portion of the project," said C. "Lee" Warfield III, executive vice president at Thalhimer/Cushman & Wakefield in Richmond. The brokerage firm is the leasing agent for Westchester Commons.

The corridor, which stretches from the Regal Cinema to Gold's Gym, was built for shoppers to stroll among the shops and restaurants. There is on-street parking and a green area.

To date, however, the only retailer to open along the strip is Books-A-Million. Barbecue restaurant Red, Hot & Blue is expected to open within the next several weeks.

The rest of the corridor is like a boarded-up downtown, with large multicolored signs in place of windows. Warfield says the vacancies in the corridor are not indicative of any problems, but the result of a weak economy.

"This project is not in trouble," he said. "It's healthy, but the general trends are not good right now."

Overall, the center is about 75 percent leased. Two new tenants recently signed leases for space in the outer parcels.

They include a Mexican restaurant Warfield isn't naming but which is scheduled to open in the spring, and sporting goods store SCK Sports, which should open before Thanksgiving.

Despite the vacancies, Westchester Commons hasn't faced some of the tenancy issues that West Broad Village in Henrico County has.

So far the retailers developers expected to come did open, including Target, Petco and OfficeMax.

A long-anticipated Starbucks is scheduled to open by the end of the year.

"We expect that Westchester will continue to attract tenants at a steady pace; the overall strength of the site and supporting market has helped us through the general economic slowdown," said Gary Hough, senior director of shopping centers for developer Zaremba Group LLC. "We believe that the property will only become more attractive once the housing market picks up."

The lack of housing and offices in the area has been a major sticking point for the development. It especially hurts the main street portion, which depends on smaller retailers looking for customers interested in shopping at a variety of stores.

Westchester Commons is the retail component of the Watkins Centre development at state Route 288 and Midlothian Turnpike in Chesterfield County.

Watkins Centre was zoned in 2006 for 1.3 million square feet of retail space and 2.1 million square feet for offices on 640 acres.

It was also to include a residential development on an adjacent 280 acres.

"When we broke ground, there were 1,600 new homes planned at our doorstep," Hough said.

But the economic downturn has slowed plans. So far, two small office buildings have been built on the site, but the office complex has not come through. The residential component is on hold as well, as are several others in the area.

"There is just not that density of population that you see in other areas," said Brian Glass, senior vice president of retail brokerage for Grubb & Ellis/Harrison & Bates Inc. "And, generally, shopping follows rooftops."

His firm is not involved in the center.

Other developments that would have brought new homes to Chesterfield have also been put on hold, including Branner Station, a 4,988-home mixed-use project planned on 1,614 acres along Branders Bridge Road near Chester. Magnolia Green, which was to bring 3,550 homes, has also been delayed.

Roseland, which is expected to bring 5,540 homes to northwest Chesterfield, has not yet begun construction.

Glass said Westchester Commons won't be able to attract the type of tenants to the main street corridor until the housing is built. Retailers looking to open stores, he said, will look to areas with bigger population centers.

The population base around Westchester is significantly smaller than in areas already supporting large shopping centers, like Short Pump in western Hernico.

Demographic comparison reports by Grubb & Ellis show that 130,118 people live within 5 miles of West Broad Street and Pump Road. That's more than double the number of people -- 57,875 -- living within 5 miles of Midlothian Turnpike and Route 288.

Hough believes that the housing market there will begin heating up sometime next year.

"We are in a prime position to reap the benefits of future growth in this exciting new growth corridor," he said.

Contact Louis Llovio at (804) 649-6348 or LLLovio@timesdispatch.com.