A rendering of The Lake, a mixed-use development rising near Brandermill. The development’s entrance is planned to feature an illuminated structure that will double as a covered drive-thru for a Starbucks. (Images courtesy Flatwater Cos.)
Long in the making, the first piece of The Lake mixed-use development in western Chesterfield is on track to be finished later this year.
Construction is underway on the project’s initial commercial phase at its entrance off Genito Road near Brandermill. The three buildings planned to make up that phase will total 20,000 square feet and are targeted for completion this fall.
A Chipotle and a Starbucks with a drive-thru have been lined up for storefronts in the under-construction section, which makes up the first part of the larger mixed-use development that’s to be anchored by recreational water features.
The rest of the commercial space in the initial section has largely been filled up, said Brett Burkhart of project developer Flatwater Cos. He declined to name other tenants for the buildings.
In an interview last week, Burkhart said the approach for The Lake is to have an entertainment anchor draw foot traffic, as opposed to big-box retail, to make the development a distinctive destination. The development is planned to feature a 13-acre recreational lake and a 6-acre surf pool. An amphitheater is also planned.
‘The live-work-play (branding) is so cliché. Every developer says that because it’s trendy and they want to have entertainment. We have actually put our money where our mouth is,” Burkhart said.
“Everything up front is more of your daily service users, and as you get into the back toward the entertainment area, we’re still going with unique brands and restaurants. You might see some national brands, but not like chain restaurants. Anything that creates a unique experience and identifies with what we are. We’re a celebration of the outdoor lifestyle.”
Construction on the commercial section, at the corner of Genito Road and Genito Place, started in January and followed months of site work on the larger property that’s still underway.
“We’re about 90 percent done with moving dirt and putting in all the spine utilities. We really spent the better part of last year setting the site up horizontally so we can now start going vertically on the different components,” Burkhart said.
The first piece of The Lake is a 20,000-square-foot retail outparcel, which has already secured Chipotle and Starbucks as tenants.
The Lake is anticipated to have 250,000 square feet of office, retail, entertainment and restaurant uses. The property is zoned for nearly 1,200 residential units, of which 830 are planned to be apartments and 360 are planned to be townhomes.
The project is expected to feature two five-story mixed-use buildings with about 300 apartments each and ground-floor retail. A 170-room hotel is also planned.
Beyond a goal to have the lake feature operational in summer 2025, with the surf pool to follow later, Burkhart said the project’s five- to 10-year buildout will be driven by demand.
“We have the ability to move around on the project and build what makes sense, when it makes sense. The focus has always been on getting the lake in (as) the first phase of the entertainment, and that’s what we’re finishing up this year. After that everything else will be market-driven,” he said.
An aerial photo of The Lake development site at Genito Road and Route 288. The under-construction recreational lake is 13 acres in size and will be filled with water from onsite wells.
Breeden Co. has been tapped to build what’s expected to be the first residential project at the development, a 280-unit apartment complex called Vida on the Lake. In 2022, an LLC tied to Breeden paid $6.1 million to Flatwater for 16 acres of the Lake site that fronts Genito Road for the project.
The Lake has been projected to cost more than $323 million, according to a 2022 cost projection. Burkhart declined to share an updated cost estimate.
The Lake’s general contractor is English Construction. Timmons Group and Rummel Klepper & Kahl are handling engineering, and Liquid Design is the project’s lead architecture firm.
The project is taking shape on a 105-acre assemblage southwest of 288’s interchange with Powhite Parkway. The development is across Powhite from River City Sportsplex, and across Genito Road from Clover Hill High School.
The Lake has been in the works for years. In the project’s early days, Burkhart had a business partner in Derek Cha, founder of Sweet Frog and Hangry Joe’s Hot Chicken, but Cha is no longer involved in the venture.
The Chesterfield Board of Supervisors approved the project’s zoning in 2017, and a year and a half ago approved a grant performance agreement for the project that would provide up to $28 million in incentives.
A rendering of The Lake, a mixed-use development rising near Brandermill. The development’s entrance is planned to feature an illuminated structure that will double as a covered drive-thru for a Starbucks. (Images courtesy Flatwater Cos.)
Long in the making, the first piece of The Lake mixed-use development in western Chesterfield is on track to be finished later this year.
Construction is underway on the project’s initial commercial phase at its entrance off Genito Road near Brandermill. The three buildings planned to make up that phase will total 20,000 square feet and are targeted for completion this fall.
A Chipotle and a Starbucks with a drive-thru have been lined up for storefronts in the under-construction section, which makes up the first part of the larger mixed-use development that’s to be anchored by recreational water features.
The rest of the commercial space in the initial section has largely been filled up, said Brett Burkhart of project developer Flatwater Cos. He declined to name other tenants for the buildings.
In an interview last week, Burkhart said the approach for The Lake is to have an entertainment anchor draw foot traffic, as opposed to big-box retail, to make the development a distinctive destination. The development is planned to feature a 13-acre recreational lake and a 6-acre surf pool. An amphitheater is also planned.
‘The live-work-play (branding) is so cliché. Every developer says that because it’s trendy and they want to have entertainment. We have actually put our money where our mouth is,” Burkhart said.
“Everything up front is more of your daily service users, and as you get into the back toward the entertainment area, we’re still going with unique brands and restaurants. You might see some national brands, but not like chain restaurants. Anything that creates a unique experience and identifies with what we are. We’re a celebration of the outdoor lifestyle.”
Construction on the commercial section, at the corner of Genito Road and Genito Place, started in January and followed months of site work on the larger property that’s still underway.
“We’re about 90 percent done with moving dirt and putting in all the spine utilities. We really spent the better part of last year setting the site up horizontally so we can now start going vertically on the different components,” Burkhart said.
The first piece of The Lake is a 20,000-square-foot retail outparcel, which has already secured Chipotle and Starbucks as tenants.
The Lake is anticipated to have 250,000 square feet of office, retail, entertainment and restaurant uses. The property is zoned for nearly 1,200 residential units, of which 830 are planned to be apartments and 360 are planned to be townhomes.
The project is expected to feature two five-story mixed-use buildings with about 300 apartments each and ground-floor retail. A 170-room hotel is also planned.
Beyond a goal to have the lake feature operational in summer 2025, with the surf pool to follow later, Burkhart said the project’s five- to 10-year buildout will be driven by demand.
“We have the ability to move around on the project and build what makes sense, when it makes sense. The focus has always been on getting the lake in (as) the first phase of the entertainment, and that’s what we’re finishing up this year. After that everything else will be market-driven,” he said.
An aerial photo of The Lake development site at Genito Road and Route 288. The under-construction recreational lake is 13 acres in size and will be filled with water from onsite wells.
Breeden Co. has been tapped to build what’s expected to be the first residential project at the development, a 280-unit apartment complex called Vida on the Lake. In 2022, an LLC tied to Breeden paid $6.1 million to Flatwater for 16 acres of the Lake site that fronts Genito Road for the project.
The Lake has been projected to cost more than $323 million, according to a 2022 cost projection. Burkhart declined to share an updated cost estimate.
The Lake’s general contractor is English Construction. Timmons Group and Rummel Klepper & Kahl are handling engineering, and Liquid Design is the project’s lead architecture firm.
The project is taking shape on a 105-acre assemblage southwest of 288’s interchange with Powhite Parkway. The development is across Powhite from River City Sportsplex, and across Genito Road from Clover Hill High School.
The Lake has been in the works for years. In the project’s early days, Burkhart had a business partner in Derek Cha, founder of Sweet Frog and Hangry Joe’s Hot Chicken, but Cha is no longer involved in the venture.
The Chesterfield Board of Supervisors approved the project’s zoning in 2017, and a year and a half ago approved a grant performance agreement for the project that would provide up to $28 million in incentives.
You’ve reached peak suburbia when your signage is an illuminated covered Starbucks drive-thru…
Funny part is I think the first rendering was the plan when it was purposed but if you look at the small strip center rendering (Chipotle is up front) Starbucks does appear to be on that front corner at Genito but the building looks like every other one of their drive throughs. It looks like this strip center will run up the center road of the project from Genito and not parallel to Genito Road.
With two children who attend Clover Hill High School, I am concerned about the amount of traffic that this development will bring to an already congested area at school drop off and pick up times. I’m curious to see how they plan to adjust the infrastructure to meet the need.
Originally THEY stated it would have its own exit ramp off state route 288 and Not an on ramp into the development to ease traffic onto Genito
…..just curious does anyone know what the plan is on this now?
The same old VDOT plan: do absolutely nothing until they have to. Kind of like all the traffic at the terminus of the Powhite at Charter Colony and the Hell Street exits at 288
I do not blame VDOT for this. Chesterfield controls the zoning which leads to this type of construction. The county should work closer with VDOT when it comes to zoning and future road needs. Henrico and Arlington are the only counties to control their own local roads (non Interstate, US, VA highways) with VDOT funds and their own local money. Henrico has far better local roads as they can control both zoning and roads. Maybe Chesterfield needs to ask VDOT for their allotted funds so they can control local road construction.
VDOT builds very few roads statewide and Chesterfield has control over new road projects within its borders. The new construction you see is either built by developers or financed by County bonds ala the upcoming extension of the Powhite Parkway.Rte 288 was an exception to this rule, built by the state and funded state-wide. There is a cash proffer provided by developers for each residence which impacts off-site traffic but often the developer foots that bill completely and the proffer is off-set, such as the improvements at Hull and Otterdale by Main Street Homes. Woolridge Road through Rountrey is an… Read more »
“The live-work-play (branding) is so cliché. Every developer says that because it’s trendy and they want to have entertainment.“
Amen.
And he goes on to say that the initial frontage vendors will be your basic, af, mall-America staples of Starbucks and chain tacos.
The inner providers will be more original and unique.
Sincerely appreciate his honesty!
“We’re a celebration of the outdoor lifestyle.” but announces two drive-thrus. People will have to drive here but incentivizing people to drive through here is…
The renderings literally show people walking on a thin path with parking on both sides of them with no stop signs. Pedestrians will have to halt and wait for “the right time to cross”.
I see everything but a lake. Is there a giant slide to the reservoir?
Chesterfield is becoming unrecognizable.
Richmond is just becoming the next NoVa: apartments, townhomes, and strip malls full of national chains and pedicure shops all over the landscape.
Yelp,I remember growing up in south Richmond,the family would all pile in the car and visit relatives in Powhatan and it would be an ALL day trip.
For someone who professes “something unique” why oh why do you have Starbucks and Chipotle as your most visible presence? They say no big common chains – well, that’s what they are advertising at the entrance.
Hah, with Starbucks and Chipotle, how can this multimillion dollar undertaking possibly fail?
So basically what we are hearing is Chesterfield gave up 80% of the new revenue for the commercial and retail side (real estate, sales, use, and other taxes) so they could get a Chipotle, Starbuck, and a “recreational lake” that sound more and more to be an enlarged storm water pond that they will stock with fish. And then we have traditional apartments (not the 5-story over retail) with both the apartments and strip center as the face of the complex along Genito Road. What a deal. I love how the surf park is now a will “follow later.” FYI… Read more »
So disappointing that they couldn’t do something like Chester Village right here.
I was opposed to the plan to off-set tax revenue with new apartment construction but the rendering clearly shows two large parking decks between apartment buildings. The County did something similar at Springline next to the Chippenham but that is a revitalization area in need of a helping hand.
“Beyond a goal to have the lake feature operational in summer 2025, with the surf pool to follow later…”
“Later” is “never” in developer-speak.