Growth on the southern end of Peters Creek Parkway is picking up again.
The newest commercial development in the area is a Chick-fil-A that's under construction near the Walmart Supercenter and Lowe's Home Improvement stores.
"We're looking at a projected opening date for July," said Brenda Green, a spokeswoman for Chick-fil-A in Atlanta, Ga.
Green said she expects the free-standing restaurant, which will have a play-tower for children, to hire at least 65 people and seat about 140.
The construction comes at a time when commercial development has been slow for the past two years because of the downturn in the economy.
Paul Carter, a commercial real-estate appraiser for Michael S. Clapp & Associates Inc., said that the overall retail market in the Winston-Salem area is still soft.
"Vacancies have been rising and it's going to remain a difficult market until we start seeing some job growth around here and the job situation starts stabilizing," Carter said.
Ray Collins, the president of Collins Commercial Properties Inc., expects more growth along this section of Peters Creek Parkway.
"There are folks looking to buy or lease or whatever," Collins said. "They're a bit more cautious than normal and want to make sure they've documented and evaluated their decision in every way possible."
He said that many landowners and landlords that have the ability to do so have reduced their asking prices, but "there is still a bit of a disconnect between what tenants and buyers want to pay and what landlords and sellers want to accept."
The Tetra Companies, based in Virginia Beach, Va., is still waiting to set a construction start date for its $65 million mixed-use development near Walmart and Lowe's.
The development, called Stafford Place, will offer retail, offices and apartments on 36 acres. The Winston-Salem City Council approved a zoning request for the project in February 2008.
Philip Stewart, the president of Stewart Realty LLC, the sales agent for Stafford Place, said that The Tetra Companies will initially focus on apartments, then follow with commercial development. "What's really holding us up is the road," Stewart said, referring to the delayed completion of the West Clemmonsville Road extension.
David Anastasi, a spokesman for Tetra, said in January 2009 that the company hoped to start construction after the extension was completed.
But the road work, which will extend West Clemmonsville from Old Salisbury Road to Peters Creek Parkway, stopped when the company building it went out of business. Mainline Contracting Inc. of Durham filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy last year and shut down. Since that time, Mainline's bonding company, Hanover Insurance Co., has stepped in to finish the job, according to the city engineer for Winston-Salem, Robert Prestwood.
Bids to complete the project were being accepted this week.
"It's probably going to be June or July before it's finished," Prestwood said of the road.
The Walmart and Lowe's stores were opened in 2007. The next year, Granite Development LLC of Mount Airy opened Parkway Village Shoppes right in front of the Walmart. Current tenants are Burger King, GameStop, H&R Block, Subway, T-Mobile Limited, Pegram Insurance and Albatross Tattoo.
Craig Hunter, a partner with Granite Development, said Tuesday that the building was fully leased, except for a 1,600-square-foot space.
Jemsite Development LLC developed the land that Lowe's is on and some nearby parcels, including a site that has a Hardee's/Red Burrito restaurant and another one that will be home to the Chick-fil-A.
The commercial real-estate developer, based in Jefferson, still has at least three to four parcels available for sale or lease, said Melvin Cline, a project manager for Jemsite.
Deputy City Manager Derwick Paige said that it would be good to see new development in that area because it would help improve the tax base and bring services there.
"You would hope that as you see those additional services come in you'll also see new residential development occur that will help to support all of that development that's going to occur in that area," Paige said.
fdaniel@wsjournal.com
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