Big box retailers eye new center in Northeast

In the six years since Matthew Congdon unveiled plans for Killian’s Crossing — a $750 million lifestyle center — the nearly 400 acres on Killian Road at Farrow Road in Northeast Richland have done little more than sit vacant.

But in recent weeks, workers have started moving 750,000 yards of dirt to prepare the site for a mix of retail, residential and office space — similar to the nearby Village at Sandhill.

Retailers and developers held off on making commitments as the project lingered in the planning and permitting stages after Congdon made costly mistakes early on in the process. Now, with final permits in hand, “we’re moving forward,” Congdon said. “There’s been a lot of interest.”

The first 172-acre piece of the development will focus on retail — one segment of the economy that is showing promising signs of a rebound. The development is approved for 1.3 million square feet of shopping and dining space and Congdon said he could have significant announcements for the center in the next couple of months.

Later phases could include up to 550,000 square feet of office space, as well as up to 800 apartments, nearly 900 town homes, around 50 single-family homes and more than 360 independent living units.

A town center is planned. And more than 100 acres have been set aside as green space for walking trails and small parks, Congdon said.

Congdon in 2003 as a rookie developer just out of college pleaded guilty to breaking federal clean-water laws for filling in low-lying areas on the property and removing trees without getting the proper permits. He later pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and received probation, and his family’s development company — DCG Development based in Clifton Park, N.Y. — agreed to pay a $1.1 million fine.

With those mistakes and hopefully the economic downturn in the rearview mirror, Congdon is moving forward. Congdon said he is in talks with big box retailers that don’t have a Midlands’ presence and in some cases are not in South Carolina. He also is talking to smaller retailers, restaurants and two movie theaters, he said. A Hilton Homewood Suites is planned for the site, but details are still being worked out, he said.

Laying roads and more than six miles of water and sewer lines will take about six to eight months, Congdon said, but he said he hopes to have some retail announcements before then.

The development is in a prime location, just off I-77 between Columbia and Charlotte, experts said, amid an influx of new car dealerships and across the interstate from a new Walmart.

“When they selected that location, they were very smart,” said Marianne Bickle, director of the Center for Retailing at the University of South Carolina.

And the timing could be good to bring in retailers, who can build cheaper than they could in a better economy by negotiating to bring down prices, Bickle said.

But large shopping centers, in general, are not doing as well as they did in the 1980s and 1990s, in part because of a surge in online shopping, Bickle said.

“Online sales are increasing at a phenomenal rate,” she said.

The mall’s success is going to hinge on planning — such as adding left turn arrows at stoplights for easier access — and getting the right mix of retailers, she said.

That means bringing in stores that will complement each other and having something for everyone in a family, from pet stores and craft stores to electronics and outdoor stores and an array of clothing stores. They should have stores that will compete — not just one shoe store, for example — to drive traffic, she said.

“If they have the right composition of things, it will be absolutely fabulous for the area,” Bickle said.