Despite the ever-increasing shift toward online shopping, Fredericksburg’s Central Park appears to be stronger than ever.
Multiple tenants have signed on of late at Central Park, which the Silver Companies developed about 20 years ago and includes about 2 million square feet of retail space off State Route 3 near Interstate 95. The current retail vacancy rate at the center is 0.8 percent, according to research from Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer.
The activity has been so strong that Susan Bourgeois said she is out of Central Park inventory to lease for the first time ever. Bourgeois is executive director of leasing and brokerage for Rappaport, the largest property owner in Central Park.
The Central Park sign over Interstate 95 is being modernized.
“Central Park still has a uniqueness to it that hasn’t been replicated,” she said, adding that there is a waiting list of nationally known tenants who would love to be in Central Park if an opportunity presented itself.
Retail vacancy rates in Northern Virginia are generally low, said Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer Senior Vice President Connie Jordan Nielsen, who also represents a large Central Park portfolio. That’s in part because of the lack of new construction in recent years in the face of high building costs and interest rates.
But she said Central Park has done particularly well, which she and Bourgeois attributed to a great location off I-95, plenty of parking and the presence of multiple feeder roads leading into the development. Nielsen called it a “really successful retail Mecca.”
The two most-visible entrants at Central Park are the recently opened Silver Diner and Chase Bank at the entrance. Two older, vacant restaurant buildings were torn down for those two structures, leading to a significantly refreshed first impression of the shopping center for people coming off I-95. The center’s signage is also in the process of being refreshed, and a digital component was added to the “Big Red Sign” at the entrance.
River Rock Outfitter’s second location will be in Central Park next to Five Below.
The two new businesses at the entrance are among numerous new or coming-soon retail tenants at Central Park. The list also includes:
- A First Watch location coming to the former TGI Friday’s building at 1160 Carl D. Silver Parkway
- A newly opened Paris Banh Mi restaurant at the former Shane’s Rib Shack location at 1150 Carl D. Silver Parkway
- A newly opened Hacienda El Patron restaurant at the former Joe’s Crab Shack location at 2805 Plank Road
- A planned KPOT restaurant (Korean BBQ and hot pot) at the former O’Charley’s at 1791 Carl D. Silver
- A Value City Furniture location coming to the former Pottery Barn Outlet at 1731 Carl D. Silver Parkway
- The new Burlington and T.J.Maxx locations at 1845 and 1833 Carl D. Silver Parkway, respectively
- A planned River Rock Outfitter location next to Five Below at 1382 Carl D. Silver Parkway (one of two new planned locations for River Rock)
- A Skechers store planned at 1370 Carl D. Silver Parkway (near the fairly recently opened Academy Sports + Outdoors location at 1320 Carl D. Silver Parkway)
- A planned Dave’s Hot Chicken location at 1999 Carl D. Silver Parkway near Fleet Feet
- A newly opened The Good Feet Store location at 1682 Carl D. Silver Parkway
Bourgeois pinpointed the COVID-19 pandemic as the time period when Central Park’s recent renaissance began. She said it convinced retailers that the market remained strong enough for them to open stores at the center, pointing specifically to Burlington and T.J.Maxx as examples.
“We all thought the world was coming to an end, especially retail,” Bourgeois said. “They came back on fire, in a good way.”
Bill Freehling covers local business for the Fredericksburg Free Press. He can be reached at: [email protected].
