New details have been released regarding the composition and construction of the Hampstead Town Center shopping complex, a $14 millon project of which a Lowes Foods grocery store will be the anchor tenant.
The developers of the center, Wakefield and Associates of Raleigh, received final permit authorization on Monday to commence work on the grounds, which will total approximately 81,000 square feet on Hwy. 17 near Olde Point Golf Course.
“We have several retail stores signed up,” said Rick Rowe of Wakefield, “There will be a gift store, a large upscale Chinese restaurant, a hair cut place and a cell phone store among the attached shops.”
Rowe said the first phase of construction, which includes 44,000 square feet committed to Lowes Foods, as well as 20,300 square feet of adjacent attached shops, is scheduled to be completed by Memorial Day 2013. A second phase, which includes an additional 17,500 square feet of small shops, could also be completed by that time, or soon thereafter.
Crews were out inspecting sewer lines at the site on Monday. A wastewater package plant is also scheduled to be installed onsite.
The project will be very similar to a Lowes Foods-based center completed earlier this year at Brunswick Forest in Leland.
Rowe said he had yet to begin discussions regarding two of the three scheduled out-parcels, but that one would be a Lowe’s Fuel Center connected with the grocery store. One of the other out-parcels was slated as “office space” while the other was signified as a “fast food” restaurant. He said he would be able to announce the names of all the tenants who had committed to the project and further details in the near future.
“There’s been a lot of planning put into this, and it is quite a showpiece,” Rowe said. “It going to be an upscale center, one of Lowe’s largest food stores.”
Both Pender County Commissioner David Williams and Planning Director Kyle Breuer said they were excited that the project was officially back-on after years of planning and sitting idle. Lowe’s was originally scheduled to being work on the site under a different name and developer in 2007, before finally pulling out of the project altogether in 2010.
“It’s encouraging to see that this company decided to stick with it and return here to get this going again,” Breuer said.
The exterior finishes will be stone and brick, and will incorporate some “green” elements into the project. A total of 410 parking spaces were included in the original design for the main shopping center, with a further 95 spaces devoted to out-parcels, Breuer said.
Thependerpost.com