Southern Stafford County residents soon won't have as far to go to shop at a Target.

The discount retailer plans to build a nearly 127,000-square-foot store in Carter's Corner, a new shopping center Silver Cos. is developing in conjunction with the chain on the old Servicetown Travel Plaza site.

"It's going to be a regular Target," said Jud Honaker, Silver Cos.' president of commercial development. "Target determined that the demographics were such that it wasn't good for a SuperTarget."

The store could open as early as the summer of 2007, he said.

Target purchased the 17.63-acre site on U.S. 17 near the Interstate 95 interchange for $8.22 million last spring with an eye toward building a SuperTarget. The company has stores in Central Park and Stafford Marketplace, and will open a SuperTarget in the new Cosner's Corner retail development in Massaponax this summer.

Target also bought about seven additional acres near the Servicetown site, then decided it did not need that much land, according to Honaker. The chain, which has been tightlipped about the project, did not return phone calls for this story.

"They didn't want all their money tied up in land," said Honaker. "We're buying the surplus from them and what we can buy around it."

The proposed shopping center will have a total of about 250,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space. A proposed plat on Silver Cos.' Web site, silvercompanies.com, shows Target and an adjoining building with 37,000 square feet of retail space and a large parking area. These are ringed by nine parcels ranging in size from a little over an acre to nearly 3.5 acres, plus the existing McDonald's property.

Tenants will likely include banks, restaurants and possibly a drugstore, Honaker said. This would allow southern Stafford residents to shop closer to home.

"I would expect it would be of benefit most to the communities north of Route 17," said Tim Baroody, Stafford's economic development director. "In many cases, it may prevent them from getting on I-95 and driving north to shop."

Carter's Corner isn't the only new shopping center Silver Cos. is planning. It already is building Cosner's Corner in Spotsylvania County and the Commercial Center at Celebrate Virginia on U.S. 17 near GEICO in Stafford. Both are expected to open by the middle of 2006.

And it has at least eight more smaller projects in the works. These include Harrison Crossing, a 70-acre retail development that will straddle both sides of State Route 3 at Harrison Road, and Collins' Corner, a 12-acre shopping center that will abut Lee's Parke at U.S. 1 and the new Spotsylvania Parkway.

Work has begun on both Spotsylvania County projects, and they are expected to open by next fall. Harrison's Crossing will have a Giant and Home Depot, and Collins' Corner will have such things as a bank and drugstore.

"Collins' Corner is basically for people who are going home, need something and don't want to cross the street to Cosner's Corner," Honaker said.

Silver Cos. also is planning to build Pelham's Corner, a six-acre retail project at U.S. 17 and Benchmark Road, and recently finished building the Shoppes at Salem Run, a single, multitenant building on Salem Church Road. Both are in Spotsylvania.

Other projects--including two in Spotsylvania and one each in Fredericksburg and Stafford--are in the initial planning stages. Silver Cos. has already put them up on its Web site even though the properties involved would need to be rezoned and, in some cases, have not been purchased yet.

"The company has historically owned a lot of land, which is now developed," Honaker said. "We're looking at new projects we can work on."

Silver Cos. listed four of these on its Web site so that prospective clients could easily access proposed plans. Their feedback will help the company determine if it will go ahead with the plans.

"It's kinda like which comes first, the chicken or the egg," Honaker said.

These tentative projects are:

Blue & Gray Center, which would be on the south side of the Blue & Gray Parkway where it intersects with Belman Road in Fredericksburg.

Courthouse Shoppes, a small center at Courthouse Road and Woodland Drive in Spotsylvania near Eckerd Drug.

Massaponax Church Road & U.S. 1. The Spotsylvania site, which is across from Massaponax Baptist Church, is currently home to a motorcycle repair shop, auto salvage shop and storage lot for Pohanka Auto of Fredericksburg.

Sherwood Commercial Center, which would face State Route 3 in Stafford, and adjoin Silver Cos.' planned Sherwood residential project.

Date published: 1/5/2006

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