Retail developments under way across region

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Silver Cos. is working on a new shopping center in southern Stafford County, and has plans for several more in the Fredericksburg area.

Date published: 1/5/2006

By CATHY JETT

By CATHY JETT

Southern Stafford County residents soon won't have as far to go to shop at a Target.

The discount retailer plans to build a nearly 127,000-square-foot store in Carter's Corner, a new shopping center Silver Cos. is developing in conjunction with the chain on the old Servicetown Travel Plaza site.

"It's going to be a regular Target," said Jud Honaker, Silver Cos.' president of commercial development. "Target determined that the demographics were such that it wasn't good for a SuperTarget."

The store could open as early as the summer of 2007, he said.

Target purchased the 17.63-acre site on U.S. 17 near the Interstate 95 interchange for $8.22 million last spring with an eye toward building a SuperTarget. The company has stores in Central Park and Stafford Marketplace, and will open a SuperTarget in the new Cosner's Corner retail development in Massaponax this summer.

Target also bought about seven additional acres near the Servicetown site, then decided it did not need that much land, according to Honaker. The chain, which has been tightlipped about the project, did not return phone calls for this story.

"They didn't want all their money tied up in land," said Honaker. "We're buying the surplus from them and what we can buy around it."

The proposed shopping center will have a total of about 250,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space. A proposed plat on Silver Cos.' Web site, silvercompa nies.com, shows Target and an adjoining building with 37,000 square feet of retail space and a large parking area. These are ringed by nine parcels ranging in size from a little over an acre to nearly 3.5 acres, plus the existing McDonald's property.

Tenants will likely include banks, restaurants and possibly a drugstore, Honaker said. This would allow southern Stafford residents to shop closer to home.

"I would expect it would be of benefit most to the communities north of Route 17," said Tim Baroody, Stafford's economic development director. "In many cases, it may prevent them from getting on I-95 and driving north to shop."

Carter's Corner isn't the only new shopping center Silver Cos. is planning. It already is building Cosner's Corner in Spotsylvania County and the Commercial Center at Celebrate Virginia on U.S. 17 near GEICO in Stafford. Both are expected to open by the middle of 2006.

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Date published: 1/5/2006