Land Clearing Work Continues for New Albemarle Shopping Center

ALBEMARLE COUNTY, Va (WVIR) - Bulldozers are clearing trees and moving dirt on 73-acres just outside Charlottesville city limits, making way for a new shopping center.

The 5th Street Station is expected to bring more than 500 jobs to Albemarle County.

Everyone is working well together; the county, the developer, the shopping store management. And we're trying to stay in touch and make sure this project comes out as good as it could possibly come out, said Albemarle Co. Board of Supervisor Chair Jane Dittmar.

Currently, crews are clearing land and putting in underground infrastructure. By the fall of 2016, a Wegmans grocery store will be open. Field and Stream, Dick's Sporting Goods, Petsmart and Panera Bread will follow soon after.

The whole south side of the county is underserved for shopping. This is going to be great for them. It saves them time. It saves them transportation costs, said Albemarle Co. Supervisor Liz Palmer.

Riverbend Development is now working on the second phase of leasing retail space for the shopping center.

They have about 75,000 square feet in negotiations, so we're looking forward to finding out who might be joining the original tenants fairly soon, Dittmar said.

A road connecting Avon Street and 5th Street is expected to be completed by the year as well.

Even people that are not interested in necessarily, oh wow great shopping' and new service businesses are looking forward to easy access between those two roads, said Dittmar

Supervisor Palmer says tax revenue from the shopping center will allow the county to make other improvements in that area.

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Land Clearing Work Continues for New Albemarle Shopping Center