Biz Beat Roundup: Trader Joe’s confirms plans for local store

BUSINESS ACTIVITY

• A major site plan has been submitted for review to the City of Fredericksburg for a piece of land along Fall Hill Avenue that could include the region’s first Trader Joe’s store. The parcel under review is a portion of the 34-acre property at 3430 Fall Hill Avenue, which runs between Cowan Boulevard and Fall Hill Avenue. The site plan for the commercial part of the Shops at Fall Hill project on the east side of an extended Gordon W. Shelton Boulevard shows a 13,085-square-foot grocery store along Fall Hill Avenue, a size consistent with a Trader Joe’s. The site plan also shows a 16,540-square-foot retail building. Additional smaller commercial pad sites are planned on the west side of the extended Gordon W. Shelton Boulevard, but those plans will be submitted separately.
• Trader Joe’s officials have not announced plans to locate a store at the Fall Hill Avenue development, but company Public Relations Manager Nakia Rohde did confirm that there are “plans for a Trader Joe’s store in Fredericksburg.” She did not specify a location or timeline.
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  Extension plan for Gordon W. Shelton Boulevard

  Plans for the overall development show a new road between Fall Hill Avenue and Cowan Boulevard, which will provide an important connection between the two major corridors. To the left is a plan for this road, courtesy of the City of Fredericksburg (click the image for a larger view). The proposed road intersects with the existing Gordon W. Shelton Boulevard on the Fall Hill Avenue side, and the easternmost entrance of the Fletcher Construction building on the Cowan Boulevard side.

• Tobacco Hut is opening a new store at a former BB&T branch at 401 Emancipation Highway in Fredericksburg.
• La Patrona Taqueria & Pupuseria, which serves Mexican and Salvadorian food, has opened at 10412 Courthouse Road in Spotsylvania County.
• Floor & Decor is opening a store at the Spotsylvania Crossing shopping center in Spotsylvania. It’s unclear which space the company will occupy at the center, but a likely candidate is the former Value City Furniture space at 3545 Plank Road (Value City moved to 1731 Carl D. Silver Parkway in Central Park).
• Two Downtown Fredericksburg businesses that have been co-located at 212 William St. will each be getting larger spaces. Green Eyed Vines will relocate from 212 William to 720 Caroline St., which was formerly home to Peacaloo Boutique. Novel FXBG, which is currently at 212 William, will expand into the space in that building now occupied by Green Eyed Vines. The transition is expected to be completed by early April.
• Wawa will officially open its new store and station at 5230 Mudd Tavern Road in Thornburg at 8 a.m. Friday (Jan. 23). The store will offer free coffee through Sunday. The new store is part of The Vakos Companies’ Thornburg Commerce Park development, which also features a Starbucks that recently opened. A Wendy’s between the Wawa and Starbucks is under construction, and an adjacent Advance Auto Parts location is being designed. Two additional ground leases and a strip shopping center at the development are pending, said Vakos Real Estate Services Principal Broker Jonathan Gardner. The development isn’t far from the Kalahari Resorts & Conventions project, which is scheduled to open in December.
• The new Bubblebee location at 1865 Carl D. Silver Parkway in Fredericksburg opened this week. The bubble-tea shop had been located downtown.
• Sheetz will officially open its new store and station at 567 Warrenton Road in Stafford County at 8 a.m. Thursday (Jan. 22). The new location will offer free self-serve coffee and soda all day Thursday. This is Sheetz’s fourth Stafford location.

MOVERS & SHAKERS

• Johnson Realty Advisors plans to move into its new office at 509 Lafayette Blvd. in February. The commercial real estate brokerage firm is currently located across the street at 512 Lafayette. House of Bloom Medical Aesthetics will lease about 1,300 square feet of the space at 509 Lafayette.
• The Fredericksburg Nationals will hold a job fair for game-day positions on Thursday, Feb. 5, from 3-6 p.m. at the Total Property Services Club Level at Virginia Credit Union Stadium. No advance appointments are needed, and on-site interviews will be conducted on a first-come, first-serve basis.
• The guests on this week’s edition of the Biz Beat Banter podcast are Brian Shanle and Jeff Oliveri, respectively the general manager and assistant general manager of the Kalahari Resorts & Conventions facility in Spotsylvania. Listen to get an update on where the project stands.
• Fredericksburg’s twice-annual Restaurant Week will run through Sunday (Jan. 25). More than 30 eateries are participating.
• Mary Washington Healthcare (MWHC) has started a new postpartum safety initiative. Details are on the MWHC website.
• Hallberg Classic Cars, a passion project of local financial advisor Chris Hallberg, is the subject of this week’s Biz Beat Clips video.

REAL ESTATE REVIEW

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  This Lake Anna home sold for $2.25 million.

  There were 44 homes sold last week in the Fredericksburg area, including a Lake Anna property that went for $2.25 million, according to FAAR’s weekly sales list. Check back weekly for the new list.

• Spotsylvania’s Board of Supervisors voted last week to support a process to require special-use permits for data centers in the county.
• A conditional-use permit is requested for a Chipotle location with a drive-through on a 1.18-acre parcel on the north side of Garrisonville Road about 500 east of Algrace Boulevard in Stafford.
• Fredericksburg’s Planning Commission this week recommended approval of a special-exception and special-use permit for a 1.9-acre, mixed-use development at 2015 and 2105 Princess Anne St. that could include 21 townhouses and a renovation of the existing commercial building on site. The project would also include a pedestrian connection to the Caroline Street river trail.
• A Layne’s Chicken Fingers location is in the works on the property formerly home to DVDs On The Run at 12100 Chewning Lane in Spotsylvania.
• Liberty Mutual Insurance Company will occupy 3,600 square feet of space on the first floor of the office building at 2050 Gordon W. Shelton Boulevard in Fredericksburg, joining the Fredericksburg Area Association of Realtors in the space, according to Coldwell Banker Commercial Elite.

Biz Beat Roundup runs every Wednesday and includes a roundup of business news from around the Fredericksburg region. Send submissions to: bill.freehling@fredericksburgfreepress.com