Commercial Real Estate: Art of the Deal
Watkins Centre
New project expected to create jobs that will keep
Chesterfield commuters at home

Virginia Business
December 2006

THE DEAL: Development of an 800-acre lifestyle center at the intersection of Route 288 and U.S. 60 (Midlothian Turnpike) in western Chesterfield County. The project will combine retail, office and light industrial. Construction is scheduled to start during the first quarter of 2007. When built out, Watkins Centre could be the county's version of Innsbrook Corporate Center, a 700-acre office/business park in Henrico County that's one of the region's most popular business locations. The county has paid all rezoning costs associated with Watkins Centre, because it's expected to generate $11 million in additional tax revenues. The 1.3 million-square-foot retail portion of the centre known as Westchester Commons could include up to 13 big-box retailers. Best Buy and Target are sought-after tenants. Plans for Watkins Centre also include a Main Street component with small, boutique-style shops. Westchester's developer also is recruiting Consolidated Theatres to locate at the project.

KEY PLAYERS: The retail portion is a joint venture of Metropolitan Partnership, Ltd. of Reston and the Zaremba Group of Cleveland, Ohio. Other players include Watkins Land LLC, primary owner of the property, headed by state Sen. John Watkins, R-Powhatan (about 520 acres of the property is controlled by Watkins' family); the Chesterfield Board of Supervisors, planning commission and planning department.

HOW THE DEAL UNFOLDED: Years before Route 288 was extended to connect Chesterfield and Henrico counties, county leaders planned for an office park at its interchange with Midlothian Turnpike. "Given the availability of vacant land, it was a logical location for that," says Faith McClintik, development manager for Meadowville Park and former assistant director of economic development. "It is very much one of the key gateways to Chesterfield County." After a lengthy zoning process, county supervisors finally gave the project their blessing earlier this year.

CHALLENGES: Rezoning of the properties owned by Watkins Land and other smaller owners took about nine months. At issue was transportation - how and where roads would be built and who would pay for them - and the scale of retail at Westchester. Roads will be funded jointly by the developer, and the creation of a county community development authority. The CDA will allocate a portion of the tax revenue generated by the retail to pay down debt that will be issued by the authority. Midlothian Planning Commissioner Dan Gecker and former Supervisor Ed Barber both expressed concern that Westchester would hurt business at nearby Chesterfield Towne Center, five miles east on Midlothian Turnpike. But in the end, the promise of potentially thousands of new jobs and millions in additional tax revenues won out. County leaders ultimately approved the zoning last February with Barber casting the lone dissenting vote.

ECONOMIC SIGNIFICANCE: If all goes as planned, Chesterfield finally gets a major, mixed-use corporate center. "This project puts Chesterfield on better footing with Henrico in terms of shopping and office park development. In other words, it will allow Chesterfield to be in a more competitive position," says Cary M. Euwer, Jr., president and CEO of Metropolitan Partnership. Retail at Watkins Centre is expected to support the creation of a 2 million-square-foot office park, which would provide jobs for county residents who currently commute to downtown Richmond and Henrico for work. Village Bank has already announced its intention to relocate its headquarters there. Will Davis, director of Chesterfield's Department of Economic Development, sums up the project this way: "It will allow people living in that area to also work in that area with a lot of amenities."