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Clearer vision for Aquia Towne Center

Planners consider adding Aquia Towne Center to new PTND zone

Date published: 11/6/2007

BY KAFIA HOSH

The Aquia Towne Center is being changed from a bleak strip mall into a chic, pedestrian-friendly shopping center with a new addition: residential units.

The shopping mall, which will be renamed the Towne Center of Aquia, will include an apartment complex.

On Thursday the Stafford County Planning Commission considered a proposal to rezone the center into a Planned Traditional Neighborhood Development zoning district. A PTND is a new zoning category for mixed-use developments that include residential and commercial uses.

Ramco-Gershenson Properties Trust, a Farmington Hills, Mich.-based developer, owns and manages the strip mall on U.S. 1.

The company's executives gave planners a better idea of the center's residential components.

The units will range from 900 to 1,000 square feet in size, and will mostly be studios, one, or two bed-0rooms.

Edward Wizner, a redevelopment vice president for Ramco-Gershenson, said the units are not aimed at a families.

"The market is typically younger people that are either single or married without children, or older people where their children are grown," he said.

Some planners asked who would oversee the residential units, because for years the center itself did not have a local property manager.

But Wizner ensured there would be on-site management.

"There will be a property manager who will see if people violate their leases," he said.

The center's three parking garages concerned some residents in neighboring Aquia Harbour who feared the structures would devalue their properties and just be an eye soar.

But the garages are going to be 40 feet tall and will be unobtrusive, according to Clark Lemming, a land-use attorney representing the developer.

"This is not a skyscraper," he said.

Ramco-Gershenson executives would not name any specific retailers, but said the development should include a deluxe cinema chain, a grocery store, signature restaurants, a bookstore and various apparel outlets.

They also hope to have a sporting goods retailer.

"We think the demographics support that with the military population, and a lot of outdoor activities in the region," Wizner said.

Planners also discussed the development's affect on U.S. 1 traffic. They will revisit the zoning application at a meeting on Nov. 28.

The center is slated or completion in 2009.

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Date published: 11/6/2007