Costco planned for Chesterfield
December 3, 2009 by Greg Pearson
A Costco will anchor a new shopping center planned near Chesterfield Towne Center.
According to a site plan submitted to the Chesterfield Planning Department, Costco will occupy part of a new 342,000- square-foot shopping center at the intersection of Mall Drive and Koger Center Boulevard behind Chesterfield Towne Center. The 154,276-square-foot Costco store will be one of three commercial buildings on the 80-acre site.
The site also includes 453 apartments to be built close to Robious Road.
Previous zoning approval required the developer, CCAI, to pay proffers of $6,750 for each of the first 370 apartments and $15,600 each for the remainder.
Owner/developer Jeff Galanti of CCAI Industries declined to comment about when a groundbreaking would occur or who the prospective tenants are.
“It’s too early to be releasing information,” he said.
A commercial industry source confirmed that Costco has signed a letter of intent. Continental Properties, a Milwaukee-based development company, had the property under contract but never closed on it. The unnamed source expects other tenants to include family-style restaurants as outparcels fronting on Mall Drive.
Chesterfield officials said Mall Drive will be extended as a four-lane divided road to intersect with Robious Road, which was part of the approved zoning case. The existing traffic lights at Koger Center Boulevard and Robious Road will be signalized to better control traffic flow.
“We’re told Costco is very eager to get started,” said Kirk Turner, the county planning director.
Unlike its current location off Hull Street Road, the site plan shows fuel pumps. During previous discussions about the site, county planners insisted the Costco building be made of brick and mortar and not metal.
Built in 1990, the current Costco on Price Club Boulevard is only 111,744 square feet and has a much smaller food services area than the larger Costco on West Broad Street in Henrico County. It isn’t clear whether the current Costco will close when the new one is ready to open.
The corporate offices of Costco in Issaquah, Wash., have routinely declined to comment, saying it is company policy not to discuss individual stores.
Last January, sources told the Chesterfield Observer that the company was negotiating to relocate to Chesterfield Towne Center. The plan was to tear down the former Dillard’s location so Costco could build a free-standing store. That deal reportedly fell through because mall owner Macerich didn’t offer sufficient construction funding.
Costco is the fifth-largest retailer in the world, with sales of $71.5 billion. It has 550 warehouses in 40 states and six foreign countries, averaging $137 million annually per store.
Greg Pearson is the editor of the Chesterfield Observer, which is an RBS News Partner.
Th new Costco will a terrific addition the the area around the mall. Great article!
Let’s hope it goes forward as planned.
Also I hear there is a great Health & Tennis club next door to the new Costco.
If you open Google Maps on your computer, switch the view to satellite, and plug in 23 Sesame Street 23235 you will see an aerial view of the area that is planned for development adjacent to WCVE. For those that haven’t the time, know that one of the very last wooded areas in the Chesterfield Town Center area will soon be developed.
It’s a shame that my county is eager to see every last scrap of available land in northern Chesterfield developed. I am all for a new Costco, what a shame this last strip of forest in my old stomping grounds has to go to make room for it.
To the credit of Chesterfield, at least they carved out Huguenot Park back in the early 80s. Otherwise it might have become another Wal-mart.
Costco has wanted a spot off Midlothian Turnpike for decades.They had originally wanted to build on land behind the Post Office but the local neighborhoods killed that in the 1990’s.This plan first turned up several years ago and is a counter punch to the 288 intersection developments.The only corcern I’d have is that the intersection of 147 and Robious which is already a nightmare not get worse.That whole road plan should be redone.
More suburban sprawl… wonderful!