Grocery Store, Shops Planned for Meadowbrook

A grocery store, retail shops and restaurants are among the businesses planned for the Meadowbrook subdivision on the south side of Leesburg, according to representatives of the company that owns the property.

Peter Kalaris, president of Washington-Virginia Traditional Developments, said that the grocery store will anchor the commercial area, which will be located near the intersection of Rt. 15 and Evergreen Mill Road. He said that the store would be about 53,000 square feet – about the size of a typical new Harris-Teeter store.

Early plans for the site also call for retail shops and restaurants, and will most likely include a Starbucks or similar coffee shop.

“Our goal is to design a plan to have a viable grocery store, and stores and restaurants that branch out from it that are also commercially viable,” Kalaris said. He said that several businesses have been expressing interest in the site for years.

The Meadowbrook subdivision is roughly bounded by Rt. 15 on the west, Evergreen Mill Road on the north and Masons Lane on the south. On the east, it will extend to the property and existing residential lots along Evergreen Mill Road.

Kalaris said that the grocery store would not face Rt. 15, and that the commercial development would be shielded from the highway by a landscaped buffer area and “possibly some sort of screen, like a brick wall.”

The shopping center would be accessible from Evergreen Mill Road as well as another planned road that would extend into the subdivision from the intersection of Rt. 15 and Country Club Drive.

Kalaris said that Meadowbrook has already received preliminary subdivision approval from the  for 400 single-family detached homes, which he characterized as being upscale – “the nicest homes in the area.”

Plans for the residential development also include a large, open green space and a lake. 

“We want to make this as pedestrian-friendly as we can,” said Bruce DeAtley, a planning consultant for the property owner.

DeAtley said that the property owner intends to submit a rezoning application to the town by the end of February or early March, with the hopes that it would be approved by the end of 2012.

“Realistically, you won’t see [a groundbreaking] before 2014,” Kalaris said, adding that homebuilders and a commercial developer for the property have not yet been selected.

About a dozen residents of nearby neighborhoods gathered at Evergreen Mill Elementary School to hear the plans for the subdivision and ask questions. They were joined by Leesburg Council Member David S. Butler, Chairman Mary Harper, and Michael Watkins of the town’s Department of Planning and Zoning.

DeAtley said that he hoped to be able to hold another session with the public in “a couple of weeks,” to discuss the project further.