Development Of “The Corner At Short Pump” Back On Track

Development of the The Corner At Short Pump, a 47-acre retail and residential development on West Broad Street at Lauderdale Drive, is back on once again. Crews cleared the land back in September of 2008 and the site has remained vacant while rumors of the reason why ran rampant. Short Pump residents were justifiably upset […]

July 13, 2009; 5:17 PM • by Trevor Dickerson

Short Pump residents were justifiably upset when the trees were removed from the site and construction equipment subsequently left the scene, especially after a lawsuit regarding the development of Short Pump Town Center left a 147 acre dirt field across the street from the current property in question for many months. It was not known at the time whether construction of the mall would resume, pending the outcome of the lawsuit.

Many readers wrote into Downtown Short Pump asking about The Corner At Short Pump, raising much speculation about why the site had been devoid of construction equipment for so long. Earth moving equipment was recently brought back on site, bringing in more questions from readers.

Brooks Bossle, Director of Acquisitions at Archon Group, the company developing the project, set the record straight in a phone interview Monday afternoon and says there were a variety of factors holding up the project.

“We had pulled off site, but we’re happy that we’re back on site developing the project,” Bossle explained. “Lenders are a little more concerned than usual [right now]. We wanted to make sure we got all lending issues resolved before moving forward.”

Bossle went on to explain that there were issues related to approvals and entitlement at the site that held up construction. He says the 86,000 square foot Kroger, the center’s flagship tenant, is on track to open in mid-2010. The grocery store was originally slated to open this November. “The rest of the center will follow soon after [Kroger’s opening,]” Bossle said.

“We got too far ahead of of ourselves. I know there were a lot of rumors and speculation, but we’re just happy to be back on track.”