Sign(s) of the times: It's Eagle Village now

More changes are in store for Eagle Village

Date published: 7/24/2009

By Cathy Jett

EAGLE VILLAGE will shed the last remnant of its former name when it gets two new signs this fall.

The University of Mary Washington Foundation recently got approval to replace the big, red-and-black Park & Shop sign at the shopping center's entrance with one bearing its new name.

"It will have a plasma screen advertising community events," said Jeff Rountree, the foundation's chief executive officer.

The smaller sign in front of Country Cookin' will be replaced with one listing tenants' names. Both signs should be up in 90 days.

UMW's foundation bought Park & Shop in 2007 and is transforming it into a multi-use center with student apartments, a parking garage and retail and office space.

It will finish up demolition needed for the first phase of construction in the next week or two by tearing down the stores where the Hair Cuttery, Lee's Cleaners and Mailhouse Plus were located, Rountree said. Those three businesses have moved to the southern end of the shopping center near the U.S. post office.

Construction should be finished by next summer on the two student apartment buildings and parking garage near where Roses used to be. The foundation already is negotiating with tenants for retail and office space on the first floor of the buildings.

Eagle Village's next big change will occur in mid-January, when tentative plans call for U.S. 1 to be closed temporarily so several cranes can swing sections of a pedestrian bridge into place. The nearly 200-foot-long span will connect the present campus to Eagle Village.

"We may have the closures at night or it may be just a weekend when the highway is shut down," Rountree said. "Plans with the city haven't been finalized. They're working out the traffic plan now."

The foundation recently selected, but has not yet hired, a firm to draw up plans for second phase of the Eagle Village project and revamp UMW's master plan.

"We want them to work together well," Rountree said.

The planning process should take about six months, and work will be done in stages contingent upon new and current tenants' needs and the expiration of existing leases.

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Date published: 7/24/2009