CONSTRUCTION THREAD: Magnolia Park Town Center

[vicupstate]

I've heard with the delays on this development, Charleston may get the first Apple Store in SC.

Apparently that may happen ...

Apple looking at King Street space

[RestedTraveler]

Anyone noticed the new site plan?? Looks promising...

http://www.menindevelopment.com/magnolia2.html

Definitely looks like they've scaled it back without the office/residential tower component. The hotel has moved, too. There's a whole lot more pavement showing up near the Regal Cinemas and "Power Center" though - that bums me out ever so slightly. But the part of the plan that does show the re-development looks pretty nice to me. I wonder who this "Gourmet Grocery" will be?

[DealMan]

The Gourmet Grocer is a proposed Trader Joes. The reason there is more parking in front of Regal is due to the fact that Regal will not allow Menin to build shop space there, as they feel it will be detrimental to their parking and business.

[GvilleSC]

Where is the hotel now?

[Galley]

I still say my Congaree Rd. Ext. proposal would be beneficial to this development, and lessen the traffic burden on Woodruff Rd.

[distortedlogic]

Does seem like it has been scaled back quite a bit. The original hotel was to be over 300 rooms. I like the trees throughout the development, that should help. I knew Regal was the highest grossing theater in SC, but I didn't know it is for NC too. That's pretty cool, but may have something to do with the fact that there are only three theaters in the direct area. Look at the aerials page; a parking garage really needs to be built somewhere between Regal and the power center, that is an OCEAN of asphalt!

[RestedTraveler]

The Gourmet Grocer is a proposed Trader Joes.

Shhh....it's supposed to be a secret!!

Where is the hotel now?

It was originally supposed to be back by the old CompUSA area, but it's been moved to the other side of the development nearer Costco. If you zoom in on the site plan, you can't miss it - it's the purple square.

Edited February 8, 2008 by RestedTraveler

[breed]

Definitely looks like they've scaled it back without the office/residential tower component. The hotel has moved, too.

I think the office component is still there... two 75,000 office properties.

Judging by the footprints of about 25k sf, it looks like it will be three stories tall... on top of three floors of parking, perhaps... six stories total?

The small hotel footprint looks to equate to about 10-12 stories.

Of course, this is all making huge assumptions on the precision and accuracy of the site plan, which I would imagine is very flexible at this point.

Edited February 8, 2008 by breed

[gs3]

I think the office component is still there... two 75,000 office properties.

Judging by the footprints of about 25k sf, it looks like it will be three stories tall... on top of three floors of parking, perhaps... six stories total?

The small hotel footprint looks to equate to about 10-12 stories.

Of course, this is all making huge assumptions on the precision and accuracy of the site plan, which I would imagine is very flexible at this point.

The living component is still there as well....lofts above the retail space. The condo tower has not been part of Menin's plan. The previous site plan (with condo tower) was the Gulfside Canyon plan that Menin simply used on the website while the property was redeveloped under Menin.

[RestedTraveler]

I think the office component is still there... two 75,000 office properties.

Judging by the footprints of about 25k sf, it looks like it will be three stories tall... on top of three floors of parking, perhaps... six stories total?

The small hotel footprint looks to equate to about 10-12 stories.

Of course, this is all making huge assumptions on the precision and accuracy of the site plan, which I would imagine is very flexible at this point.

There are also two 50,000 SF 2-level office space above each retail strip along both North Main and South Main - totalling 100,000 SF

The living component is still there as well....lofts above the retail space. The condo tower has not been part of Menin's plan. The previous site plan (with condo tower) was the Gulfside Canyon plan that Menin simply used on the website while the property was redeveloped under Menin.

If I am not mistaken, there had previously been (under Gulfside plan) one to two levels of residential units above the street-level retail space in the "village" portion - very similar to Birkdale Village over in Charlotte. This appears to have been replaced with the office space as I mentioned above. The residential condo tower is definitely a component that is missing from this plan, regardless of whether the space above the retail strips will be office or residential.

I'm not saying I don't like the plan. I prefer what's being done over what Gulfside had proposed previously...but there's still an awful lot of asphault there that I'd rather see replaced by more of the same.

Aside from RTG and Trader Joes, does anyone have any details on who some of the other tenants will be? Who's been firmed up so far? I'm jonesin' for some Chipotle, so I hope they're still in the mix.

Also - one other thing that's missing from the site plan ... didn't someone mention that MPTC was going to have a dedicated exit from I-385? Was I dreaming about that one?

[Greenville]

Is the Trader Joe's rumor for Magnolia Park legitimate? I would love nothing more than to see that happen!!

[DealMan]

The Trader Joes rumor is definitely legit. They are still doing due diligence to decide if they will move forward on South Carolina stores.

In regard to a potential exit on I-385 that is not going to happen, because there is already an exit on Woodruff Road and at Roper Mountain, and it is not affordable to take that land away from the development.

In regard to tenants, given the state of the economy, I would think there are some delays in the retailer and restaurant market. I would think that there will be announcements later this year, but don't look for anything substantial until the summer or the fall, as commitments will be slow coming.

[RestedTraveler]

The Trader Joes rumor is definitely legit. They are still doing due diligence to decide if they will move forward on South Carolina stores.

In regard to a potential exit on I-385 that is not going to happen, because there is already an exit on Woodruff Road and at Roper Mountain, and it is not affordable to take that land away from the development.

In regard to tenants, given the state of the economy, I would think there are some delays in the retailer and restaurant market. I would think that there will be announcements later this year, but don't look for anything substantial until the summer or the fall, as commitments will be slow coming.

Thanks - this certainly makes sense to me regarding the exit - I wasn't really clear on how that would have been possible to begin with. It would certainly seem more feasable to extend congaree somehow on out to MPTC to help ease traffic on Woodruff, but I doubt that would even be done.

With respect to the tenants, one of the reasons I asked is because I noticed the site plan seems to be very specific with respect to the type of retailer that will be in many of the spaces shown. I'm curious if this is just the type of retailer that the developer intends to put into those locations or if there have been commitments some and it's just a case that names aren't being revealed.

[gs3]

If I am not mistaken, there had previously been (under Gulfside plan) one to two levels of residential units above the street-level retail space in the "village" portion - very similar to Birkdale Village over in Charlotte. This appears to have been replaced with the office space as I mentioned above. The residential condo tower is definitely a component that is missing from this plan, regardless of whether the space above the retail strips will be office or residential.

Correct. There will be no residential tower. There will be residential loft space above the retail areas in the latest Menin plan.

[DealMan]

In regard to the site plan, developers usually put specific categories or retailers they are in negotiation with, but if the deal was finalized it would be publicized and announced.

[swu_BA_student]

BUMP!

[gs3]

BUMP!

The updated website:

http://www.magnoliapark.com/index.html

[Sonrise]

Just wanted to bump this for a "what the heck is going on with this place?" discussion. Big time developers with big name commits and not a shovel in the ground yet. Is this becoming Courtyard by Marriott/ POM part 3? There's no way this will be ready by spring of '09 as once projected.

[swu_BA_student]

I don't know what is going on but they need to do some thing because that lot looks terrible off of i-385.

[Greenville]

I hope this gets started soon. I think they are getting close.

I was on Woodruff Road last night, and noticed how much the property slopes down toward Woodruff. For a large stretch of Woodruff, you can't even see what is up there. Are the Menin Development folks planning on making the land more flat?

I also hope they bury the power lines...

[btoy]

Just wanted to bump this for a "what the heck is going on with this place?" discussion. Big time developers with big name commits and not a shovel in the ground yet. Is this becoming Courtyard by Marriott/ POM part 3? There's no way this will be ready by spring of '09 as once projected.

Projects like this are very complicated to develope and can take lots of time. Many commitments maybe continigent on getting other commitments and each user hass a particular need which can requie many redesigns to fit each users need etc... Just so many vairables that can keep changing, but I feel pretty confident about this one. But one thing to consider is the economy, some retailors and developers are in wait and see mode, they are keep projects in the pipeline for the turnaround but maybe slowing the progress of projects in the work to make sure there is a turnaround....

[linkerjpatrick]

I hope this gets started soon. I think they are getting close.

I was on Woodruff Road last night, and noticed how much the property slopes down toward Woodruff. For a large stretch of Woodruff, you can't even see what is up there. Are the Menin Development folks planning on making the land more flat?

I also hope they bury the power lines...

I think lowering the landscaping would be nice. The factory on the Cherrydale property used to sit up on a hill but they lowered the property when the build the Cherrydale Shopping Center.

[Galley]

If I'm not mistaken, the power lines will eventually be buried.

[DealMan]

Project has been delayed. They are now projecting a 2nd quarter 2010 opening. The commitments have not come yet. Every retailer that was in negotiations has slowed down due to the state of the economy and also the developer's extremely high rent numbers.

[adrockc2]

Article from Greenville News

Market being tested for possible office building.

The best part though is $100 million in public improvements at MPTC by the city for things such as parking garages, roads, parks, public buildings or stationary art.