The Marquis at Williamsburg is one approval away from increasing its retail sales an estimated $137 million annually.
On Wednesday, the York County Planning Commission unanimously voted to recommend the Board of Supervisors approve the development of commercial space, which has already drawn interest from a national chain club store, at the shopping center off Route 199 near Water Country USA.
The supervisors will likely consider the application at its Nov. 19 meeting.
The proposal asks to amend the original plan for the Marquis to reduce the total approved square footage from 1.2 million to 638,420. The new plans eliminate the retail strip, lifestyle center and bridge over the wetlands included in the original plan. Instead, the shopping center would have a national club store with a gas station, fast casual dining restaurants, fast food restaurants and a specialty anchor store.
“This is an important time in the history of the Marquis because a retailer of this size [136,500 square feet] brings with it what we’ll call follow-on retailers and restaurants,” said Greg Davis, an attorney with law firm Kaufman & Canoles who represents Todd Interests, which acquired the Marquis at Williamsburg in 2011. “Put more simply, when a center has attracted a user like this, the phone starts to ring and the sort of restaurants and retailers you see in successful centers in your travels are now attracted to the Marquis.”
Davis said Shawn Todd, owner of Todd Interests, believes construction for the club store can begin in the spring of 2014 and possibly completed before the end of that year.
Todd Interests has also submitted an application that would develop land to the south of the current commercial space into a residential area with a combination of 650 apartments, townhouses and single-family homes. The Planning Commission will consider that application, which would require rezoning the land, next month.
The Planning Commission vote came after a public hearing during which three people spoke: Davis, Todd and Shannon Hartig, whose family has owned the Days Inn hotel near the shopping center since 2002.
Hartig said though she is excited at the prospect of attracting more patrons to the shopping center, which could in turn help her hotel, she urged the commissioners to fully consider the effects plans for the Marquis could have on the surrounding businesses.
“That intersection [the Marquis entrance and Route 199] was moved from in front of our hotel to down the street and we suffered diminished access as a result,” she said. “In my excitement of the initial development, I didn’t realize it would end up harming our property.
She said she wants the Planning Commission to pay special attention to the potential traffic woes to make sure the Marquis’ success does not in turn harm, rather than help, the businesses around it.
Though the commissioners all said the plans had their support, some shared Hartig’s concern that traffic could be heavier than planners are anticipating because of the upcoming proposal for the southern parcel of land, which is not currently factored into the estimates. Heavier traffic could mean a buildup at the intersection of Route 199 and the roadway entrance to the shopping center or a buildup along the roadway that connects the residential area to that same entrance, according to the commissioners.
Todd Mathes said he felt comfortable with the traffic estimates because that parking lot and the intersection with Route 199 had been designed for plans that included a much larger area for commercial space.
“It’s nice to guess about the traffic and it’s always very frustrating, but I feel more comfortable about the traffic knowing that the infrastructure of the roadways was built to accommodate the larger site,” he said.
Tim Cross, a senior planner with the county, said the previous approved plan for the southern portion had commercial spaces, which typically generates more traffic than residential developments.
Again citing traffic concerns, several members said they would have liked to consider the two applications together.
Davis said the two applications had been submitted together, but county staff needed a longer timeline to consider the application because of the rezoning of the south parcel. They decided to move forward with the current application rather than hold it for another month to satisfy the interested retailers.
“We have a national anchor tenant watching these proceedings very closely and we didn’t want to send a message that there was any problem or any delay,” Davis said.
The Planning Commission next meets in York Hall at 7 p.m. Nov. 13, when the second application regarding changes to the Marquis at Williamsburg is expected to be considered.
Related Content:
