Settler's Market Signs New Businesses

By Desiree Parker Tuesday, November 15, 2011

An artist's rendering of the future Michael's location in Settler's Market.

The owners “have been working very hard to market the whole development,” according to James City County Economic Development Director Russell Seymour. “When businesses move into the area, and into James City County, it is very positive, both from a tax standpoint and a services standpoint. Residents like to shop locally, and these new businesses will help them do that.”

Stein Mart, which currently has a location not far from New Town in the city of Williamsburg’s Monticello Shopping Center, signed a lease for 30,000 square feet at the north end of the center. It will be adjacent to ULTA, which will have a store of about 10,000 square feet.

A 25,000-square-foot HomeGoods store is planned for the anchor space adjacent to Michaels, which had re-committed to the shopping center program earlier this year.

“The Monticello and Route 199 intersection is quickly emerging as the retail hub for local residents and tourists alike,” said Debra Ramey, partner at The Shopping Center Group, which is handling the leasing for the center. “Settlers Market is attracting an unprecedented level of retail interest from popular, creditworthy national tenants.”

Settler’s Market will have 250,000 square feet of retail space along with a townhomes; both the retail and residential components are slightly smaller than the original plan submitted by the first developers of the property.

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. It was purchased in February by Federal Capital Partners and its partner, Westmoreland Partners.