Westchester Commons’ opening marks transition from rural to urban

When John Watkins looks out across the wide open landscape that used to be his playground, he doesn't see Westchester Commons, one of the largest retail developments in the Richmond area.

The Republican state senator from Powhatan County points over a half-built row of retail stores. "That is where my parents lived. Where I grew up."

Then he turns to another spot a few hundred yards north, this one between two buildings. "That's where my house was. Where I raised three kids," Watkins said.

The land has changed since Watkins was boy.

Acres of trees spread out as far as the eye could see back then. He and his cousins camped out in the woods and had the run of the place.

His family had owned the property since 1876. Watkins Nursery operated there before moving to Amelia County.

Now, the land has been stripped of those trees and is becoming one of the Richmond area's newest shopping centers.

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.

In the next year, construction is expected to begin on the Village of Westchester, a 1,500-residential-unit development on an adjacent 280 acres.

The first phase of the 975,000-square-foot Westchester Commons center opens this week with Target and Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft stores.

Other tenants, some of which will open later this month or next month, include Gold's Gym, Petco, OfficeMax and Regal Cinema.

When the shopping center is finished later this year, its size will be slightly bigger than Virginia Center Commons mall. Westchester Commons sits on 150 acres.

Adjacent to the new shopping center is The Shoppes at Westchester, where a CVS drugstore and a three-story office building have opened. More stores, a hotel and offices are planned there.

At entrance to the Watkins Centre office park on the south side of the Midlothian Turnpike, Village Bank and Trust has opened its corporate offices.

Watkins said it's bittersweet to look at the land where he once played turned into a shopping center.

He and his family sold the land where Westchester Commons sits but still owns several hundred acres south of Midlothian Turnpike where the office park is slated to go. They are still looking for a developer for the office portion of the project.

Watkins said it was inevitable that development would come to his property, particularly after Route 288 opened.

"My father said years ago that [development] was going to come this way," Watkins said.

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When Chesterfield first began thinking about the Watkins development, county officials hoped the center would draw higher-end retailers similar to those at Stony Point Fashion Park in South Richmond and Short Pump Town Center in western Henrico County. Both malls opened in 2003.

Instead, Westchester Commons is a type of a lifestyle center where residents can stroll along a Main Street corridor, eat at restaurants, be entertained and shop at larger retailers. But the center has yet to land any of the high-end tenants it had hoped for originally.

"The center has undergone different variations since we began four years ago," said Gary Hough, senior director of shopping centers for Zaremba Group LLC, the shopping center's Cleveland-based developer.

"For instance, we originally sought a full-line department store. We have since landed an excellent tenant mix and quality center that the community will enjoy."

Local real estate officials said in mid-2007 that Boscov's, a family-owned department-store chain based in Pennsylvania, was considering locating at Westchester Commons. The chain filed for bankruptcy protection last year, closed 10 of its 49 locations and stopped its expansion plans.

The downturn in the economy, which has slowed or stopped expansion plans for many national retailers, hit just as the developers were looking for tenants.

Zaremba says the center is 76 percent leased.

"The Westchester site is coming on line at an inopportune time," said Rob Black, vice president and director of retail services at real estate broker CB Richard Ellis.

Black said the upscale retailers that the county and developer wanted never signed on to the project. "The developer had to settle for some tenants that didn't have as much of a 'wow' factor. It is a shame because it is really an excellent site," he said.

Consequently, Westchester Commons won't be as much of a regional draw as Short Pump or Stony Point, he said.

"The Regal Cinemas, however, will draw from a large trade area. That may be a saving grace," he said.

C. Lee Warfield III, executive vice president for real estate brokerage Thalhimer/Cushman & Wakefield in Richmond, said Westchester Commons will pull from the nearby Midlothian area, but will be particularly attractive to people in Powhatan County.

"About 20,000 people [from Powhatan] head that way toward the city, and they're all going to go past that project," he said.

Zaremba's Hough said Westchester Commons has a good mix of tenants.

"As we progress in leasing the center, we are talking with numerous national and regional players that will fit well into," the center, Hough said.

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As the first stores open this week, Watkins looks across the land with a resigned sort of happiness.

He said the development is a way to help the community where he grew up and still lives. He lives in Powhatan, but is quick to point out that it's still a Midlothian mailing address.

"You have to have a balance" between businesses and residents, he said. "And in order to have that balance, you have to have businesses. They will pay taxes that will go toward our schools, toward our police."

Still, his face on a recent cold February morning shows that he wouldn't mind going back to the days when he could romp across the land.

Contact Louis Llovio at (804) 649-6348 or .