New board will take on Cloverleaf land deal
By Greg Pearson STAFF WRITER

The county's newly-elected supervisors were left with yet another big decision last week when the current board unanimously deferred a decision to purchase the remaining 46 acres underneath Cloverleaf Mall. The issue will be revisited on Jan. 9, the new board's first meeting.

"I was disappointed that the board didn't go forward with it, but staff believes the new board will carry it out," said Deputy County Administrator Pete Stith. "Those kind of things happen in government."

According to Assistant County Attorney Tara McGee, "the Millmar offer goes away" since the board deferred the decision. Chesterfield had agreed to pay $7.25 million for the acreage underneath the mall owned by Millmar Partnership, LP, which would have also nullified a lawsuit filed by Millmar over the purchase price last June. In 2004, Chesterfield paid $9.2 million for the first portion of the 83-acre site at Midlothian Turnpike and Chippenham Parkway.

Crosland, a Charlotte, N.C. developer with extensive experience in redeveloping urban projects, is expected to repay the county's purchase price of almost $16.5 million when it buys the property after the rezoning case is finally approved. Crosland has announced plans to tear down the mall to make way for a new mixed-use development of residential, retail and office space called Chippenham Place. The project is expected to include 350 apartments, 100-150 condos and townhouses, 50-60 single-family homes and at least 200,000 square feet of retail space anchored by a 115,000-square-foot Kroger.

At last week's board meeting, Bermuda Supervisor Dickie King strongly criticized "the county bureaucracy" for its handling of the land purchase and the lack of retail and office space at "one of the gateways to Chesterfield." Several other supervisors have reservations about adding 750 homes with so little commercial development. King called the handling of the deal "my biggest disappointment in four years on the board" and "a waste of taxpayer's money. The bureaucracy misled us."

Clover Hill Supervisor Art Warren also had concerns, but cautioned that if "Crosland walks away, we're at point zero." Crosland is the second developer for the site.

"It's always a concern to have as much retail and office there, and Crosland has told us it's more profitable for them to have more retail and office," explained Stith. "Once the mall is torn down, Crosland believes there will be more than the 300,000 square feet agreed to in the zoning."

The zoning agreement, stalled at the planning commission level, sets 300,000 square feet as the goal, but allows Crosland to reduce the amount to 200,000 square feet if the commercial market won't support more retail and office development.