From a grocery store to retail shops to a brewery, several new businesses are seeking approval to begin development in the vicinity of the intersection of Eastwood Road and U.S. 76.
The largest of the projects is the proposed expansion of the Mayfaire Town Center, which would develop 70,000 to 90,000 square feet of new retail stores on Town Center Drive in locations north and south of the Mayfaire Cinemas.
The Mayfaire Town Center project developers on Dec. 14 filed the plans with the city for a planned “Phase III” expansion of the shopping center. The initial documents listed West Marine, West Elm, Lane Bryant, Torrid, H&M and Hot Topic as potential tenants in the expansion. A revised submission removed the reference to the specific retailers.
A spokeswoman for Mayfaire Town Center could not confirm the list of tenants until leases are signed. She said it was always the plan to expand the shopping center in three phases, and while there is no set timeline, the construction on the new retail stores is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2016 and be completed by summer 2017.
“We’re working with a number of exciting tenants, many of which are new to the market,” said Paige Somervell, Mayfaire Town Center assistant general manager.
The Mayfaire Town Center Phase III proposal is one of several projects in the area that’s waiting for review by Wilmington city planners. Developers who recently won approval for a zoning change by the Wilmington City Council filed on Dec. 9 their first plans for a grocery story on Eastwood Road near the intersection of Town Center Drive and Cambridge Village Senior Living.
The project was filed as a “LiDL Grocery Store” with city developers, though the site plan doesn’t specify the name of the grocery store. The European grocery store chain LiDL has confirmed an expansion into the U.S., though it hasn’t been announced if the stores would be branded with the LiDL name.
Another project in the area is the proposed Wrightsville Beach Brewery, which despite the name, will not be located within the town limits. The 9,400-square-foot restaurant, which is being evaluated by the city’s Technical Review Committee, would be located at the corner of Oleander Drive and Greenville Avenue near Bradley Creek.
The Mayfaire Town Center development is part of the planned “Phase III” of the Mayfaire Town Center, which the property managers have been advertising on their website. The developers described Phase III as the “most important area of the center, located on Town Center Drive, the critical primary thoroughfare connecting all components of the property as well as two primary city streets surrounding the site. It is the most heavily traveled street within the property.”
The ownership of the 609,000 square foot, 75-store Mayfaire Town Center changed this year. Tennessee-based CBL & Associates, a publically traded real estate investment trust, purchased the Mayfaire Town Center in June from BrodyCo Inc. and Zimmer Development Company, the original developers of the property. Subsequently, the company in November sold to Principal Real Estate Investors the adjacent Mayfaire Community Center, which features Dick’s Sporting Goods and Harris Teeter grocery store.
Both the Mayfaire Town Center Phase III development and the LiDL grocery store project are scheduled for evaluation by the Technical Review Committee by Dec. 31.
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