Greenville-based developers will break ground next week on what could become the state’s first LEED-certified shopping center.
Rivertowne Place, located on S.C. 41 near Rivertowne Plantation in Mount Pleasant, will be anchored by a 53,000-square-foot Harris Teeter grocery store and include 7,500 square feet of additional retail space. Outparcels on the site could add about 15,000 square feet to the project, said Tom Fox, managing partner of Greenville developer Fox Capital Partners.
So far, Harris Teeter, based in Matthews, N.C., is the only confirmed tenant for the project. Fox said that the shopping center should open next summer and that he expects to have additional tenants at that time.
Despite a challenging economy, Fox said the location is right for the development.
"We’re at the entrance to Rivertowne Plantation, Park West, Dunes West,” he said. "Between those three communities, right now there are probably over 6,000 homes.”
A solid anchor tenant and a relatively small amount of additional retail space made financing easier to secure, he said.
Fox Capital Partners and Harris Teeter are seeking LEED certification for the shopping center. The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design designation is not awarded until after a project is completed, Fox said.
The project design incorporates sustainable building and landscaping, pollution prevention, indoor air quality, energy efficiency, recycling and the use of renewable materials. If the project achieves LEED certification, Fox said it would be the first shopping center to do so in the state.
Officials from Fox Capital Partners and Harris Teeter plan a groundbreaking ceremony at 10 a.m. May 19. Dawn Reeves, director of environmental sustainability for Harris Teeter, will be the featured speaker.
Fox Capital Partners has another Harris Teeter-anchored shopping center in the works for Johns Island, at Maybank Highway and River Road. A definite time frame has not been set for that project, Fox said.
Written by Ashley Fletcher Frampton
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