Settler's Market Restarts Development With New Plan

Friday, April 01, 2011

Construction will likely begin at Settler’s Market soon, as the new owner’s revised plans have just gotten a preliminary nod from the county.

Settler’s Market, home of Trader Joe’s and Baker’s Crust, was purchased in February by Federal Capital Partners, to be developed in a joint venture with Westmoreland Partners. The property had previously been owned by AIG Baker, which defaulted on its loan and left the four parcels mostly barren save for a row of shops and a spider’s web of streetlights and roads. Read a previous story on the sale here.

The master plan for the Settler’s Market area of New Town laid out parking, roadways, open spaces and build-to lines and listed

permitted uses in the area,. An original site plan by the previous owners was approved for the area in 2007. The new owners have made some significant changes, and went before the county’s Development Review Committee (a sub-committee of the planning commission) Wednesday to find out if their new conceptual plan is consistent with the overall master plan. The DRC agreed it was consistent, and made some suggested changes before the developer brings the committee a site plan.

Some proposed changes in the new plan include a reduction of about 100,000 square feet of retail and office buildings, an addition of a 7,200-square-foot building in a location shown as open space on the master plan, a new community open space of between 40 and 58 feet with fencing and pavilions near Settler’s Market Boulevard, extra parking near a 32,000-square-foot building and near two other 13,000-square-foot buildings, and shorter building frontages along Settler’s Market and Casey Boulevard.

The revised plan is significantly different in character that the original plan because, instead of having mixed-use buildings with retail and offices on the first floor and residential above, the new plan calls for separating residential from commercial buildings, according to the staff report. The master plan allowed for a lot of flexibility in terms of uses, location and design in the area, though, staff points out.

New Town’s Design Review Board approved the plan revisions earlier in the month, with some suggestions. County staff had a few suggestions, too, including some landscaping and screening changes for a few buildings and a proposed system of pedestrian connections through the central parking area.

The DRC’s suggestions built on those from the New Town DRB and included advice on the pedestrian connections through the parking lots, suggestions on buffers along Route 199, and a recommendation to take out some parking spaces.

This was only the first step in the process for Settler’s Market. The next step for the developer is to offer a detailed site plan for staff and DRC review, but the plan won’t need to go before the Board of Supervisors in the future. Construction could begin relatively quickly once the site plan is presented and approved.

 

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