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The Conceptual Development Plan for 3430 Fall Hill Ave. in Fredericksburg. The proposed grocery use is shown along Fall Hill Avenue.
A public agenda for a Fredericksburg Planning Commission meeting this week has raised speculation that Trader Joe’s could be planning a store along Fall Hill Avenue in Fredericksburg. A public hearing is scheduled Wednesday night for a rezoning and special exception permit that would allow a project on one of the largest remaining undeveloped sites in Fredericksburg — a 34.7-acre property at 3430 Fall Hill Ave. that recently has been listed on the market for $30 million (the property’s status is now shown as “Pending” in real estate listings).
Plans for the development include 240 single-family attached homes, 365 apartments, 50,000 square feet of commercial space and a new road (Gordon W. Shelton Boulevard Extended) that would connect Cowan Boulevard and Fall Hill Avenue via two signalized intersections (the road would also include a 10-foot-wide multi-use trail). Included within the proposed commercial space shown on the project’s Generalized Development Plan (GDP) is a grocery store along Fall Hill Avenue that would be about 14,000 square feet (there are another 36,000 square feet of restaurant/retail uses planned near Fall Hill in four separate buildings).
Nobody associated with the project is commenting, and a Trader Joe’s spokeswoman offered only this: “We are actively looking at hundreds of neighborhoods across the country, including Fredericksburg, as we hope to open more new neighborhood stores each year. At this time, we do not have a new location confirmed. We list all of the stores that are opening soon on our website.”
But there are reasons to believe that the sought-after grocer could be part of the mix for the Greystar project:
- Trader Joe’s has been quietly looking around the Fredericksburg region off and on for years, including considering the former Borders space at 1220 Carl D. Silver Parkway that was ultimately leased by Barnes & Noble more than a decade ago.
- A map of Trader Joe’s locations in Virginia shows stores throughout Northern Virginia, as well as in Hampton Roads, Williamsburg, the Richmond area and Charlottesville. A Fredericksburg location could be a logical one in the center of that existing Virginia footprint.
- A Fredericksburg staff memo to the Planning Commission states: “The grocery store tenant shall be the first such business (based on customer name recognition of a unique retailer) within a 30-mile radius of the Property.” There are currently no Trader Joe’s stores within that radius of the property. The staff memo also requires the developer to name the proposed grocery store tenant within two years of the date of adoption of the rezoning/special exception resolution. It also states the grocer will have a “regional draw.”
- The proposed size of the store shown on the GDP, 14,000 square feet, is in line with the typical footprint of a Trader Joe’s, whose stores are significantly smaller than most grocers. Other grocery stores that also aren’t within a 30-mile radius of the site (including The Fresh Market and Whole Foods Market) are typically larger than 14,000 square feet.
- The special exception permit would allow the developer to build more commercial parking spaces than City code permits. A staff analysis states that the specialty grocer is driving the need for the extra parking, and that the undisclosed grocer “punches above its weight” in terms of parking demand.
- A fiscal impact analysis prepared by MuniCap Inc. projects that the grocery store and the other commercial components of the project would be completed by the end of 2028. It estimates that sales per square foot at the grocer would be approximately $1,300 the first year of operations, and increase from there to about $1,600 within 10 years. A parking-count analysis included with the Planning Commission materials show the confidential grocer with $1,723 in sales per square foot on average. Those figures are in line with the reported average sales per square foot at a Trader Joe’s, whose per-square-foot sales totals are significantly higher than those of grocers with larger footprints.
- There were 108 homes sold last week in the Fredericksburg region, according to the Fredericksburg Area Association of Realtors, including two seven-figure sales. Check back weekly for the new list.
- Six single-family homes are proposed at 208-220 Hunter St. in Fredericksburg (right off Princess Anne Street). The Mitchell family owns the properties, and the applicant/engineer is Dan Webb. The City of Fredericksburg is now reviewing the site plan.
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- Black Rifle Coffee Company is the focus of this week’s Biz Beat Clips video.
- Brompton Community School Founder/Director Amber Dawson is the guest on this week’s edition of the Biz Beat Banter podcast.
- Construction activity has begun at the Mainline subdivision in Stafford County, which is on the north side of Warrenton Road just southeast of Interstate 95 at Glenalice Lane. Plans call for 374 residential units and a mix of townhouses and apartments.
- Pollo Campero, a Guatemalan-born restaurant that specializes in chicken, is opening Wednesday (June 25) at 3557 Plank Road in Spotsylvania County.
- Duck Donuts will open Saturday in a 1,240-square-foot location at 1509 Central Park Blvd. in Fredericksburg. The franchise location is owned and operated by Luis Hernandez and Anne Kayser.
Biz Beat Roundup runs every Wednesday morning and includes a roundup of business news from around the Fredericksburg region. Send submissions to: [email protected]
