Building interest

A 135-acre development representing the largest commercial rezoning to date in Augusta County has been proposed for the Interstate 81 area at Route 262 in Augusta County that would include more than 1 million square feet of commercial and service-related space, including plans for several big-box stores, restaurants, a hotel, gas station and a possible cinema.

The Augusta County Planning Commission will hold a public hearing today on a request to rezone the property — owned by Staunton-Beverly Road LLC and Gateway-Beverly Road LLC — located in the northeast and southeast quadrants of the I-81/Route 262 interchange from general agriculture to general business with proffers for the proposed Augusta Marketplace.

Pence Friedel Developers, a McLean-based real estate developer that has 35 shopping centers to its credit, has been working on the proposal with the county for about a year and a half. The majority of the property – 118 acres – is in the northeast quadrant of the Interstate 81 interchange at exit 225, while the rest is across the Woodrow Wilson Parkway, adjacent to the Quality Inn.

Bob Pence, president of Pence Friedel Developers, said the project would be about 100,000 square feet smaller than their most recently completed project in Garrisonville — Stafford Marketplace, which sits on 143 acres just off Interstate 95. This is the company’s first development in the Shenandoah Valley.

“We kept an eye on the Valley, and that area in particular, and we think it’s a very attractive spot,” Pence said Monday.

Wendall Coleman, member of the Augusta County Board of Supervisors, expressed his general support for the project, saying it is in an area slated for development, as designated by the county’s comprehensive plan.

“What has been shared with me sounded very encouraging and I have not seen any reason why it would not be viewed favorably,” Coleman said. “I’m open to it. It looks like a good quality project.”

According to proffers in the proposal, the property could include 12, two-sided gas pumps with a convenience mart. In addition, the developers are proposing a 180-room hotel and up to 993,170 square feet of additional commercial and service-related uses permitted in the general business district. A conceptual development plan for the property also shows a cinema.

Pence, while declining to identify potential tenants, said his company has identified enough of them to move forward with the rezoning.

“We’ve identified a number of tenants who we think will need and will want locations in this project,” Pence said.

The location of the property off I-81 and the parkway offers “the best site for a large shopping center.”

Coleman said he would expect the shopping center to draw not only from Augusta County, Staunton and Waynesboro, but also from Bath and Highland counties, Buena Vista as well as southern portions of Rockingham County.

Pence said his company would not use any taxpayer money to build the project. He said that, at just 50 percent complete, the commercial development would generate about $1.3 million yearly in tax revenue for the county, and close to $2.3 million yearly by the time the development is fully constructed.

A 30-acre section of the northeast section of the property borders Lewis Creek, which Pence said would be left “substantially as is,” with most of that area located in a floodplain.

He said there are enough sewer lines on the east side of the property, but that it would have to add additional water lines.

The company would also phase in transportation improvements along that stretch of the parkway as the shopping center is developed. Around the I-81 interchange, the parkway is four lanes, shifting to two lanes heading toward Route 11 to the west and toward Route 252 to the east.

Similar to its Stafford Marketplace project, Pence said the company would rely on brick and other “permanent materials – not stucco,” he said.

“Our plan in Augusta would be to take it a few more levels beyond that with regard to attractiveness of materials,” Pence said.

Following the commission’s public hearing, the Board of Supervisors holds a public hearing on May 27. As soon as Pence Friedel Developers gets approval, Pence said the firm’s plans would be to start immediately on detailed construction drawings.

After that, he wants to be doing grading, utility and street work by next summer.

Depending on the economy, he said he would hope to begin construction on the development by spring or summer of 2011, and open the first phase of the project by the fall of 2011 or early 2012.

Pence said it has been a “smooth and normal” process working with the county on the proposal, and has already held meetings with officials from the Department of Environmental Quality and the Virginia Department of Transportation.

“We would hope to have a great inventory of stores in one location,” Pence said. “In particular, we’re very pleasantly surprised at the interest we’re getting from high-end restaurant chains who want to locate in that end of the Valley.”

Coleman said he recognizes that Augusta County is competing with other slated developments – including ones in Waynesboro and Staunton – for stores. A new retail and arts center was proposed in 2008 on the site of the Frontier Culture Museum in Staunton, while a mostly residential development in Fishersville was tabled last year. A new mixed-use development in Waynesboro, to include a 12-screen cinema, was proposed last week.

“There’s no better time, as the economy begins to turn around, to be in a position to do what this guy is in a position to do,” Coleman said.