Redevelopment of Cloverleaf Mall slow going
MARK GORMUS/TIMES-DISPATCH
The project to redevelop Chesterfield’s vacant Cloverleaf Mall is still moving forward, just slower than expected.
Published: October 13, 2009
Years in the works, Chesterfield County's plans for redeveloping the now-vacant Cloverleaf Mall are moving forward -- but slowly.
After 35 years of business, the mall closed in February 2008. The county purchased the final piece of the $16 million property in August with an agreement from N.C.-based developer Crosland Investments LLC to purchase the property for the same price, plus interest, and develop it into Stonebridge, a mixed-use project.
But before that can happen, the county must issue bonds to fund $11.3 million worth of infrastructure, including sewer, water and roads.
That step hinges on Crosland's ability to sign enough retailers for the mixed-use project to satisfy increasingly stringent lending requirements. Kroger has committed to build its largest East Coast store, but it is the only tenant to sign on.
Once built, the 83-acre Stonebridge would be a retail-heavy development anchored by a 123,000-square-foot Kroger Marketplace store. In all, there would be 400,000 square feet of commercial and office space combined with 300 town houses and apartments.
"The key today, because of all the difficulty with our economy and the world of development, is that financial institutions are requiring a higher percentage of the project to be pre-leased," said Thomas E. Jacobson, the county's director of revitalization.
That's easier said than done.
Across the Richmond area, landlords and developers are having a difficult time securing tenants.
Two major developments -- the Shops at West Broad Village in Henrico County and Westchester Commons in Chesterfield -- are languishing, with large chunks of retail space empty. .
In all, retail vacancy rates in the Richmond area rose to 6.8 percent at the end of the third quarter, up from 5.6 percent during the same period a year ago and an increase of 0.2 percentage points from the second quarter of 2009, according to a market report by local commercial real estate brokers Thalhimer/Cushman & Wakefield.
New construction also has slowed, with 2.3 million square feet under construction, down from 3.7 million square feet at the same time last year, according to the report.
Jacobson said Chesterfield, too, needs assurances from retailers to prove a project's merit to potential buyers of bonds.
"Crosland needs to know that they can get their financing right, and for the county to sell our bond, our experts are telling us we need to pre-lease a high percentage of the project, too," he said.
Midlothian District Supervisor Daniel A. Gecker said he is not concerned with the delay, given the economic climate.
"We're going through the process a little bit slower with the economy and the tightened debt criteria, but it is moving," he said. County officials hope the bonds can be issued by spring 2010 -- allowing demolition and construction to begin soon after -- but they are not making promises.
"It all depends on the signing of the leasing," Jacobson said. "If it takes longer, it takes longer."
James F. Downs, vice president of Crosland's retail division, said he's optimistic that things will move forward soon.
"Banks have moved the lending goal posts on all developers," he said, adding that Crosland is in "advanced negotiations" with multiple national and regional retailers and restaurants.
Tenants will be announced as leases are signed, he said, adding that Crosland is negotiating with multiple lenders with varying lease requirements.
Ken Powell, managing director of public finance for Stone & Youngberg LLC, the project's bond underwriting consultant, said once the retailers are onboard, the rest should be smooth sailing.
"Once Crosland has the tenants in place, we're very confident that we'll be in position to issue the bonds at a reasonable rate," he said.
In the meantime, the developer is seeking a slight change to the conceptual plan with the county's planning commission and planning to submit a phase-one site plan to the county later this month.
Phase one will encompass the majority of the retail portion, including Kroger. Later phases will build out the residential and office sections.
Contact Wesley P. Hester at (804) 649-6976 or
.
Staff writer Louis Llovio contributed to this report.
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Reader Reactions
It needs to be turned into a park/recreation area - period. Trees, soccer fields, a walking/biking path. Perhaps tie in some programs for underprivileged youths. But, have some kind of organization overseeing it or you will end up with gangs of kids hanging out there. But, you can’t possibly believe more retail space is the answer??
I agree with the posters here. We don’t need MORE shopping. We have too much now. WBVillage and WChester are both underutilized. If they do the same with Cloverleaf, we’ll still have more vacancies.
The best plan for Cloverleaf is to demolish the buildings and develop as a sports area and/or park. NO MORE RETAIL.
Maybe it can work. But, notice how there are no supermarkets, no major retailers East of Courthouse Rd on Midlothian Tnpk. Why put anything there at all? Years ago, before Cloverleaf Mall, Midlothian was mostly wooded tract with an occasional shopping area sprinkled along the way west. Why not tear down Cloverleaf, put in a planted wooded tract. And, continue this as retail stores move further west. Instead of laying waste like Sherman did in Georgia, Go Green! Some years in the future, then Midlothian Tnpk can be redeveloped like it was in the early 1970’s. Eventually, this would happen.Re cycled per se….
But, as Cloverleaf Mall has languished with the Board of Supervisors dragging their feet, a whole generation of families have had to drive past the abandoned lot at Midlothian and Chippenham.
I sure agree about the suburban sprawl. There are some changes though. Densityu in the suburbs is increasing as land is more expensive. Virtually no closed shopping malls have been built in the U.S. in 20 years though separate building malls like Stoney Pt. have been. The real issue seems to be the area between downtowns where urban renewal in most cities other than Detroit is making huge inroads and the furthest outter reaches of the suburbs. That in between area here is one not only of less vibrancy but is a transition zone where people who can’t afford the suburbs but don’t want to live in outright slums can afford things.
There are few working solutions to this dilemna. Here in Virginia I think the numbers are that something like 95% of the population lives on 7% of the land mass of the state so we are quite concentrated in few cities.
Perhaps there is more than one answer. I’d argue that these middle areas with places like Cloveleaf Mall should be converted to what seem like infrastructure uses: baseball parks, tracks (as I’ve suggested), sports complex for soccer, baseball, football, walking, hiking, green space.
The other idea is for a state to mandate limited size towns/counties forcing development of many smaller towns on a wider dispersion of the land.
We don’t all need to live on top of one another it seems to me.
I too have traveled the country and every city is starting to look the same with the same massive store and restaurant chains.
Lance Pearson
heffay, when’s the last time you drove around the area? Chippenham and Midlothian is sketchy at best. Everything east of there is basically ghetto and run down, sure Kroger might do well but I’m betting most of the people living west of there will not shop there. There’s a reason why there are no grocery stores in the ghetto.
concerned, funny joke and so true.
Leapfrog development and suburban sprawl is killing this country—incredibly inefficient and wasteful and ultimately counterproductive. Yes, Cloverleaf mall should be redeveloped. Doesn’t have to be huge, but it should be remade. We need to renovate existing properties close to the city rather than keep throwing up new strip malls and housing developments farther and farther out. Senseless.
We also need people to stop buying home 20 miles outside the city. I’m afraid will fall to the younger generation to save cities—and by extension all the countryside that has been chewed up by all the crappy suburban building that America specializes in—because they are used to functioning in an ethnically diverse world, don’t live in fear of taxes and don’t like spending their lives in shipping centers. To escape paying an extra, say, $2,000 in taxes, conservative suburbanites choose to live in charmless AnyMiddlingDevelopment USA and spend their tax savings on gas—getting fat because they spend their lives in their cars. See Midlothian and Hull St.—both, ironically, in Chesterfield. I love driving out Hull St. now: It’s impossible to know where you are if you don’t live off the street, because every one of 20 intersections along the strip looks largely the same with its own cookie-cutter shopping center.
The intersection of Chippenham and Midlothian has to be one of the best locations in the Richmond area. It is literally six minutes from downtown and easily accessed from the city, Chesterfield, Chester, and even Petersburg. It will certainly become something in the near future, whether retail, sports, mixed use or industrial. I vote for mixed use. Kroger is not stupid. They will rock it at that location.
The Cloverleaf thing is a gross waste of taxpayer money. No one is going to shop at Krogers there since they can shop at much more convenient Krogers further out. It should be sold and those who voted to buy it kicked out of office.
I don’t have anything serious to contribute. But all this talk about new malls and old malls reminds me of one of my favorite Chris Rock jokes from back in the day:
“You have the white mall, and the mall white people USED to go to!“
Short Pump Town Center & Stony Point - White mall
Regency Square and Chesterfield Town Center - The mall white people used to go to
(Don’t get all upset people it’s just humor and I don’t mean anything racist by it. I just think it’s interesting to see the truth behind a joke, especially when it hits close to home.)
If you build it they will come.
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