Watkins Centre is working on permits
By Greg Pearson STAFF WRITER

It's not the glamorous part of development, but it's absolutely necessary-getting the permits for roads, utilities, the environment and the like, so Watkins, LLC and Zaremba Metropolitan Midlothian Group, LLC can build the Watkins Centre in the northwest quadrant of routes 288/60. The retail portion of that project, which includes 870,000 square feet on 132 acres, has been named Westchester Commons at the Watkins Centre.

The site plan is being reviewed administratively by the county's Planning Department and should be approved within 60 days. Planning Director Kirk Turner expects construction to begin on Westchester Commons early next year.

"We're not going to do any tenant announcements until the permits are in place," said developer Cary Euwer of Zaremba. Discussions with the county late last month included a "large groundbreaking ceremony," but without a specific date.

Most of the office and light industrial development at the Watkins Centre will be in the southwest quadrant. Village Bank has already signed on to relocate its headquarters there.

Leasing retail space occurs faster than office development, which is why Watkins, LLC and Zaremba Metropolitan are proceeding with retail first.

According to one county source, the developer is going after Consolidated Theatres and Regal Cinemas to fill a 76,145-square-foot theatre site just off what will become Watkins Centre Parkway. Kohl's and Target are also expected to be two probable tenants.

The site plan under consideration will have at least 13 big box retailers around the perimeter, varying in size from 12,000 square feet to 126,858. Some buildings could be subdivided among more than one tenant. Since Westchester Commons is in the very early developmental stage, a number of changes are likely, often modified to meet the needs of large tenants.

To meet the county's specifications, Westchester Commons will have 4,580 parking spaces throughout.

The developers have proffered considerable road improvements including widening Route 60 to eight lanes near the development, making improvements to Huguenot Springs Road and building the four-lane Watkins Centre Parkway that will connect with Route 288 north and south of Route 60. According to State Senator John Watkins, spokesperson for the Watkins family, the developers are waiting for the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) to approve the transportation plan. When the rezoning was approved earlier this year for the project, the county transportation department signed off on the road plan, but Watkins predicts VDOT will change it.

In the current plan, three traffic circles will feed motorists into the streetscape center of Westchester Commons. Including the theatre site, there are 16 tentative buildings planned in Westchester's center, some as small as 7,000 square feet. Some of those streetscape buildings will have retail or office on the first floor and apartments or condos above.

Watkins said the Army Corps of Engineers' review of environmental issues is behind schedule.