While county leaders debate the fate of Cloverleaf Mall, two other smaller projects at Beaufont Center and Chippenham Square are moving ahead to help revitalize the eastern Midlothian Turnpike corridor.

Beaufont Center

The Bond Companies has an option to purchase the 41-acre Beaufont Center site across from the mall, which includes about six undeveloped acres backing up to the Boulders Office Park. The company's due diligence period – when it studies its marketing options and the existing buildings – expires in February.

With more than 100,000 vehicles a day passing the site at the intersection of Midlothian Turnpike and Chippenham Parkway, Chris Pine, senior vice president of the company's local office, likes the location.

"It's an exciting opportunity, and we're still looking at the market potential," he said.

The Bond Companies is a full-service real estate and development company that began in 1987 and now has offices in Los Angeles and Chicago. It developed a high-profile mixed-use development with 750,000 square feet at Sunset Boulevard and Vine Street in Hollywood.

The Beaufont Center is zoned C-3 for commercial and office development. Pine doesn't have plans to add multifamily housing.

"We're investigating a road connection from Midlothian Turnpike through the development and connecting to the Boulders," he said, "but we want to make sure the existing tenants have the maximum opportunity for success."

The 315,000-square-foot center includes retail locations for Dollar Tree, Sportszone, Rainbow Apparel, Alexander's Antiques, Foremost Sales, BK Music, Wachovia Bank, Ashley Stewart and Carena's Jamaican Grill. A Popeye's Chicken and Biscuits is expected to open on Dec. 21. Behind the retail stores is an office and service area, which includes a Martin Agency Call Center, a Wawa Training Center and Elkridge Gathering Center, an adult care center.

The 65,000-square-foot site of the former Best Products store remains vacant – a product of poor design. The second floor used to be storage, requiring numerous poles on the main floor to support the second floor made of concrete. Pine thinks the building may have to be demolished.

As a former vice president with Whole Foods, Pine would like to recruit a grocery store to anchor Beaufont and is targeting Ukrop's, Kroger, Food Lion and Wal-Mart. Kroger is scheduled to be the anchor at Chippenham Place, the replacement mixed-use development for Cloverleaf Mall when it is torn down.

Crosland, the redevelopment company hired by the county, has a letter of intent from Kroger for the Cloverleaf Mall site. The terms of the commitment are proprietary.

"We're on the go-home side of Midlothian Turnpike," explained Pine. Retailers like to be on the right-hand side of the street as commuters head home, making for an easy right-hand turn into the center and the same for exiting.

Other anticipated categories of tenants include drug stores, banks, Starbucks and medical services.

Chippenham Square

Five months ago, Chippenham Square LLC purchased the 18-acre center just west of Cloverleaf Mall. Its new owner, Haeja NamKoong, is now "concentrating on renovations" in the 185,000-square-foot center that's currently home to Marshall's department store and several other smaller businesses.

Last week, Brian Glass, senior vice president of Grubb & Ellis/Harrison & Bates, attended a shopping center convention in New York to recruit a grocery store chain to anchor Chippenham Square. Several years ago, the center fell on hard times. About 60 percent of its space is currently vacant, but three new tenants have moved in recently.

NamKoong has met with members of the county's Economic Development Department. Chesterfield planners have long hoped that Boulders Parkway might be extended south across Midlothian Turnpike and into the center, connecting to Cloverleaf Mall.

NamKoong said she "was open to all ideas." She owns other developments in Henrico and Goochland counties.

Cloverleaf Mall

The fate of Cloverleaf Mall's redevelopment will be in the hands of the incoming Board of Supervisors after outgoing members decided not to act last month on a real estate deal that would have secured the remaining 43 acres needed to move ahead on repurposing the site.

The zoning case faces an uncertain recommendation on Dec. 18 when it goes before the planning commission. Outgoing board members want more office and retail development on the site and less housing. Crosland's current proposal calls for at least 200,000 square feet of retail and office – 115,000 of it from Kroger – and up to 750 homes, most of them multifamily.

Dan Gecker, the current planning commission chairman who becomes Midlothian supervisor next month, is pressing Crosland and county officials for more specifics in the commitment. Cloverleaf Mall is in Gecker's district.

Chesterfield has a lease for the next 60 years on the 43 acres and could develop retail and office on the site without purchasing the land. Last month, the board deferred discussion of the $7.25 million purchase from Millmar until Jan. 9 when the new board – with four new supervisors including Gecker – may decide what to do. In 2004, Chesterfield paid $9.2 million for the first portion of the site.

Crosland was back in the county late last month, pitching the current agreement.

"Crosland wants more business community support for its proposal," said Jay Lafler, president of the Gateway Association, which represents many businesses and homeowners in the area. Crosland has repeatedly used the term "market conditions" in explaining its plans for Chippenham Place.

At a county meeting last week, Supervisor-elect Dorothy Jaeckle questioned whether the county should set aside about $20 million in Community Development Authority (CDA) funding to support a development that, as proposed, would be primarily residential. CDAs are typically used to build roads for office and retail development.

"When we do a CDA with Cloverleaf Mall," said County Administrator Jay Stegmaier, "we're maxed out." The county has set a limit of $75 million for all CDAs since going higher could jeopardize its AAA bond rating.

Crosland, a Charlotte, N.C., developer with extensive experience in redeveloping urban projects, is expected to reimburse the county's investment of almost $16.5 million when it buys the property after the rezoning case is finally approved.

"When you look at the Greater Richmond area, the center isn't downtown Richmond," said Tom Jacobson, Chesterfield's director of revitalization. "It's the Cloverleaf Mall area." Businesses often try to locate in the middle of a market area.

w Go here to check out more stories in this edition of the Chesterfield Observer, a weekly publication in Chesterfield County.