CULPEPER -- A local developer is confident that a retail and business center planned for a busy highway junction will quickly become an asset to Culpeper County travelers and residents.
Braggs Corner Station is set to open the first phase of a multiphase project by next summer, said Tom Boyd, a real estate broker who is overseeing the venture for Charlottesville-based Born Commercial.
The project is across from Eastern View High School on the west side of U.S. 29 at state Route 666 on a now-vacant 25-acre tract along the highway.
"We're sincerely hoping that we will start breaking ground this winter," Boyd said.
One tenant, Bruster's Ice Cream, already has signed on to lease space. Boyd said talks are ongoing to bring other well-known businesses to the project, but he declined to identify them because agreements have not been reached.
The 10,500-square-foot retail center would be the first element of a project that Boyd hopes will offer residents and travelers quick, convenient and familiar choices along a stretch of highway with relatively few options.
Although there are adequate services in town, many travelers are reluctant to stray too far off the highway, Boyd said.
Plans call for Braggs Corner Station to include a gas station, several quick-service and full-service restaurants, a bank, medical offices, a medium-sized hotel and a landscaped nature area eventually. No timetable has been set on when the other elements might be added.
In recent years, water and sewer issues delayed some projects for months as town, and county leaders struggled to craft ad hoc utility agreements for each individual project. Leaders from both governments are now working out details of a regional water and sewer authority to prevent the same thing from happening again. For Braggs Corner Station, the water and sewer needs are met, Boyd said. And despite ongoing economic troubles, Boyd is confident the project will succeed.
"We think the community should be excited about this -- every dollar we capture off that highway that's spent in this community, every facility that's built out there is an increase in the tax base," Boyd said. "It's all there, and yet this project will serve the local community. We think it's a win-win."
Nate Delesline III is a staff writer at the Culpeper Star-Exponent.
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