Redevelopment hopes

Market Square demolition proposed
board of supervisors

Page Dowdy/Chesterfield Observer With six or more property owners, redeveloping Market Square will be difficult.

The 63-acre Cheatham property in the northwest quadrant of route 288/360 has location in its favor, but numerous obstacles have kept a proposed commercial and multifamily project on the site in the county's development pipeline for almost 30 months. And last week the board accepted the Cheatham family's request for another nine-month deferment.

While location is its strength, it's also a weakness. It's boxed in by Route 288 (on the east), Hull Street Road (south) and the inwardly designed Market Square center, the residential neighborhood of Nuttree and the narrow, winding Old Hundred Road on the east. Being west of Route 288 with homeward-bound commuters easily able to turn right should be an advantage for retail development, but who's starting retail development these days? Besides, Commonwealth Centre and Chattanooga Plaza share the same highway intersection, and those centers have grabbed many of the big-box retailers customers frequent.

Some 25 years ago, Safeway and Peoples Drug anchored Market Square, but those stores have faded from the area's retail landscape, giving way to mom and pop businesses. The center is part of the Brandermill Community Association (BCA), and BCA leaders are hoping Market Square and the Cheatham property can merge into one development as Brandermill updates its master plan. But Market Square has six or seven property owners, according to the largest property owner, Joe Craig, and that won't make redevelopment easy.

"It's a win-win if we can get everybody onboard to redevelop Market Square when Cheatham is being developed," said BCA Community Manager Jane Pritz. "It could be a wonderful landmark for the county and Brandermill… with major stores and a hotel…so it will take a major developer."

One with lots of money because the plan calls for tearing down the existing Market Square. And the road network - connecting directly to Route 288 and improving Old Hundred Road - will be expensive. Others have looked at the development potential and the cost and moved on. And that was in better economic times.

Craig acknowledged meeting with the Cheatham family and its engineering firm, Balzer and Associates, preliminarily to discuss what might be possible.

"We want to help if we could, but we haven't followed up because it didn't seem headed anywhere," Craig said. "We're really not interested in selling…but I wouldn't rule it out."

Currently, the Cheatham property is zoned agriculture and requesting community business with about 170,000 square feet of office space, perhaps 600 multifamily units and possibly a nursing home tentatively planned. That would keep the traffic count down compared to a shopping center, though Old Hundred Road might still become a bottleneck with a traffic light or roundabout at Market Square Lane.

The fire department would prefer a second access road to the Cheatham property, but the proposal calls for direct, emergency access only to Hull Street Road. County planners would recommend the project to the board if access and higher proffers are forthcoming.

If only a white knight with full saddlebags would ride in.