The Knoxville News-Sentinel
February 18, 2004
'New Urbanism' Comes to Town Center Project in West Knox County , Tenn.
By Cynthia Yeldell

A South Carolina company plans a $180 million project that will convert 141 acres of farmland at the interchange of Northshore Drive and Pellissippi Parkway into a village.

The development will combine upscale retail, residential and office space to create a "town center," a zoning category created in 2001 with the Northshore acreage in mind.

It will be the Charleston-based James Doran Co.'s first town center development in Tennessee and its fourth one overall. Plans call for a 20-screen movie theater, a department store, 300,000 square feet of office space and 720 housing units.

"The whole point of our development is to create a town center atmosphere where people can live, work, eat, find entertainment and stay within that community and enjoy a lifestyle that harkens back to the 1940s and 1930s," said Doran construction manager Leigh Colyer, who will oversee the project.

"You can walk comfortably from one use to the other," said Colyer, who hopes to break ground by this summer and expects the project to take five years to complete.

Named " Northshore Town Center ," the complex will have several hundred thousand square feet of retail space along with 450 apartments, 120 single-family houses and 150 town homes. Homes will average around $400,000, Colyer said, and guidelines will be provided to assure homes adhere to the development's style.

In the center of the development, architecture will mimic the adapted use of old warehouses, Colyer said, with retail on the ground floor and loft apartments above. There also will be loft space for offices, he said.

Company officials say they are in final negotiations with a movie theater operator and department store but declined to name potential tenants.

Other retail outlets that will be housed within the complex include high-end stores along the lines of a Pottery Barn, as well as a bookstore, restaurants and local boutiques.

"As soon as we start locking in the anchors, then other people will start to fall into place," Colyer said.

"We won't have many big boxes," he said, referring to retailers such as Best Buy or Bed, Bath and Beyond.

Bob Doran, the company's president, said the company chose to develop in Knoxville because "it's a growth town" with strong markets for housing and office space. He said his research indicates the Knoxville metropolitan area will be adding about 10,000 jobs a year.

"It's one of the strongest office markets in the Southeast," he said.

Doran feels there's demand in Knoxville for more high-end retail, and he expects the village to appeal to people throughout the area and not just those living nearby.

While West Knoxville 's strength as a commercial center continues to grow, most notably with the Turkey Creek development spreading across 400 acres from Lovell Road to Farragut along Interstate 40/75, Doran officials say they plan more upscale stores as part of a cohesive destination.

"We are going to be a high-end project with a lot of synergy and a well-thought-out merchandising plan. It's not going to be a retail hodgepodge," said Doran's son Shane, who is a senior vice president of the corporation. "We're not going to try to put in a high-end shop next to a deep discounter or for that matter a car lot or anything like that. We're going to have a true main street -- a true mixed-use, high-end development."

Turkey Creek developers announced an $80 million upscale lifestyle center with an 18-screen Regal Cinemas megaplex in November, but Doran said the market can support another and that his will be connected to a unique, location-specific environment.

"We're trying to create an experience here, not just a trip to the movies," Shane Doran said.

He said a letter of intent with a movie theater operator could come "in the next couple of days" and that expected business at the cineplex "substantially exceeds their minimum requirements per screen."

Doran's other town center developments are near Orlando , Fla. , and in Charleston , S.C. , with a third just under way at Richmond , Va.

Town centers have become increasingly popular in recent years. They're part of a trend sometimes called "New Urbanism" that emphasizes creation of pedestrian-friendly communities that mix residences with offices, stores and entertainment.

Malachy Kavanagh, spokesman for the International Council of Shopping Centers, said from a retailer's perspective, town centers are sure to generate traffic.

"You have a built-in customer base," he said. "You can walk right out of the door and go to the store."

Kavanagh said his organization has seen more mixed-use developments. "The ones we have seen built have been fairly successful," he said.

Developer Mike Ross has been working on a massive New Urbanism-type development in Oak Ridge for several years.

Rarity Ridge is a 1,400-acre site that could include 1,800 single-family homes, 1,000 multifamily homes, a town center, professional offices, a grocery store and other service businesses and restaurants on Gallaher Road about two miles from Interstate 40 in Roane County.

Infrastructure is being installed, and Ross said, "We're building 10 model homes over there right now that we plan to have furnished by June 1." Home sites will be available by late spring, he said.

Also, near downtown Knoxville , federally funded Mechanicsville Commons used New Urbanist principles to replace the tenements of the College Homes housing project with single- and multi-family homes for residents on public assistance as well as other families.

A retail destination like Northshore Town Center has been considered at the old Sterchi Farm, as the location is sometimes known, for several years, and the town center ordinance was approved with the parcel in mind.

Developer and hotel owner Bob Sterchi was unavailable for comment and Doran company officials declined to disclose the property's selling price last week, but Colyer said a contract to purchase the land is in place.

The Knoxville/Knox County Metropolitan Planning Commission has given approval for the site to be used as a mixed-use area and will review more detailed plans submitted by the James Doran Co. over the next month.

MPC principal planner Dan Kelly said this is the first request the commission has had that falls under the town-center classification. The MPC is expected to approve more-finalized plans at its March meeting but will be talking with Doran officials in the meantime.

"Anytime you apply regulations for the first time, issues come up that weren't fully addressed in the ordinance," Kelly said. "It's a give-and-take process. We will be making suggestions to them and discussing how to best approach it. This is a big project."

The developer plans to send a letter to residents in the surrounding area updating them on the project. Residents should receive the letter early this week.

John Schoonmaker, president of the Council of West Knox County Homeowners, said he heard about the development two years ago when it was in the discussion phases. He said he didn't know of any objections to the project.

"It seemed pretty progressive for our area," he said.

Doran said his company began looking at the site last summer.

"We had Knoxville on a radar screen, and when this site came along, it was the perfect fit," Doran said.