Developer to buy mall
By Greg Pearson STAFF WRITER

The Chesterfield Board of Supervisors is expected to approve a $9.2 million sale of the Cloverleaf Mall site at its meeting this week. But because the county owns only 37 acres of the site, another 46 acres will have to be purchased first by the county and then resold to Crosland, a Charlotte, N.C., developer with extensive experience in redeveloping urban projects. That 46 acres includes the land under the main mall, the former sites of Hecht's and JCPenney and their parking lots.

"Everyone knows that the county paid too much for the mall, and so we're going to have to continue to be a financial partner [with Crosland]," said the county's Director of Revitalization Tom Jacobson. "We need to invest to make the numbers work [for Crosland]. Depending on the cost, we'll have to fill the gap financially using a variety of tools including CDAs [Community Development Authorities]." CDAs allow for the selling of bonds for capital improvements on large projects, which are repaid over 20 years or more by property owners through higher property tax rates.

Jacobson expects to find out this spring how much more the county will have to pay. Chesterfield outbid a Richmond church to purchase the site in 2004, driving up the cost. County officials said they needed to protect the Cloverleaf Mall site as a gateway into the county and preserve the tax base instead of having a nonprofit locate there.

As reported in this newspaper last November, Crosland will tear down the mall and build a mixed-use development of retail, office and residential including townhouses and single-family homes. The tentative name for the project is Chippenham Place.

Crosland officials will provide details during this week's board meeting, but declined to be specific during a meeting of the Chesterfield Economic Development Authority last week. Late last year, county sources identified Kroger as the major retail anchor with about 80,000 square feet. Less than six months ago, Ukrop's, the only grocery store on Midlothian Turnpike east of the Powhite Parkway, closed at the 60 West Shopping Center. Nearby Richmond city residents also have few grocery shopping options.

Last November, a preliminary plan indicated the project could include 195,000 square feet of retail with 975 parking spaces, 120,000 square feet of office space with 480 parking spaces, and 200 multifamily units, 52 attached multifamily and 130 single-family homes. Market conditions could change the company's plans.

Chesterfield wants to locate a policing station, a library and "possibly park improvements," there, but has not included funding for those projects in its Capital Improvements Plan. The closest library is in Bon Air.

Crosland is a diversified real estate company with roots tracing back to the 1930s, now with a market value exceeding $1.5 billion. Its portfolio includes building and managing apartment communities, shopping centers, office and industrial space. Its Web site is www. crosland.com.

Earlier, Jacobson touted Crosland's Birkdale Village (www.birkdalevillage.net) project in Huntersville, N.C. as "the best mixed-use town center on the east coast." Its retail center has 64 tenants anchored by a 16- screen theatre, a Barnes & Noble and Dick's Sporting Goods. It has 285,000 square feet of space that can be leased (including 55,000 square feet of office) on 52 acres with 372 luxury apartments.

To review the history of the mall and Crosland, go to www.chesterfieldobserver.com and search for "Crosland."