The years-in-the-making Courthouse Landing development is on track to see some of its first pieces be completed or kick off in 2025.
A Sheetz is expected to be the initial business to open at the mixed-use development taking shape at the intersection of Courthouse and Iron Bridge roads in Chesterfield. The 124-acre site is currently planned to feature around 425,000 square feet of commercial space and nearly 500 residential units, with a total estimated cost of $250 million to $400 million.
Sheetz is slated to open this spring and would be followed by the opening of a Virginia Credit Union branch and the start of construction on apartments later this year.
Despite larger economic challenges and some issues specific to the project that have delayed the construction, developer Robert Eckstein said Courthouse Landing is now building momentum.
“There’s a lot of stuff we’ve gotten done with, a lot of headwinds, with site conditions and stuff we inherited,” said Eckstein, who is part of the Florida-based development team that took over the project a couple years ago.
Another sign of progress at Courthouse Landing is the recent closing of land sales to tee up various tenant buildouts. The development group sold to Virginia Credit Union its 1.3-acre site for its future branch for $1.2 million in a deal that was recorded in early January. The 3.2-acre Sheetz site sold for $4.1 million in December to the gas station’s landlord, a Mathews-based LLC tied to Joseph Tomlinson, per online land records.
Eckstein said several more land deals are expected to close in the next couple months. The developer team acquired the entire Courthouse Landing site in early 2023 for around $7 million, and is selling parcels to others to develop their respective pieces of the property. Eckstein said 2024 was a challenging year to close deals but said it feels like things are starting to turn around.
“Last year was very slow,” Eckstein said in a late-January interview. “The sales market was sort of in the wait-and-see mode because of election uncertainty, interest rates and things like that.”
Edward Rose & Sons is on deck to build 300 apartments at Courthouse Landing, and is expected to close on land for its project in the second quarter. The firm is anticipated to break ground later in the year, Eckstein said.
Courthouse Landing is also slated to include 112 townhomes and 72 condos to be built by Stanley Martin Homes.
With VCU Health having pulled out of its initial plans to anchor Courthouse Landing with a 60,000-square-foot medical building, the development team is exploring big-box retailers as an alternative anchor.
That could include one major retailer or a handful of “junior” big-box stores, though the preference is a single large retailer, said Jeff Doxey of NAI Dominion, which is also part of the project.
Medical uses are still being eyed as a prominent piece of Courthouse Landing and the development group is in talks with an unidentified health system and medical practices to come to the project.
“We are talking to a large health system. We would like to talk to more of them. And we’re also talking to MOB (medical office building) specialty groups. We’re talking to someone who’s interested in an ambulatory surgical center,” Eckstein said. “(Medical users) bring good paying jobs, and they bring daytime traffic, and with the nighttime traffic you have a vibrant 16-hour center, not just an eight hours a day center.”
Courthouse Landing is currently envisioned as having 200,000 square feet of retail and 125,000 square feet of medical office space. Doxey said the final breakdown hasn’t yet been determined.
“It depends on how we progress with the retailer, and on the other hand how we progress with assembling these doctor groups for the MOB portion. The MOB could become more of a primary component of the project if these doctor groups align. So it’s really fluid,” Doxey said.
A hotel is also planned for Courthouse Landing, which also features road and pedestrian improvements both in the development and on Courthouse Road.
Other future tenants that have been publicly announced include Panera, Panda Express, a FirstBank branch, Five Guys and Starbucks, according to a leasing flyer.
Some previously announced tenants have since backed out of the project. In addition to VCU Health’s departure, Outback Steakhouse, ModWash and Chick-Fil-A have backed out.
Eckstein’s group, which also includes fellow Floridians Josh Rodstein and Edward Schmidt, took over the project from Dunphy Properties and Shuler Properties, which guided the project through its 2020 zoning approval. NAI Dominion has been part of the project since it was proposed in 2019.
The years-in-the-making Courthouse Landing development is on track to see some of its first pieces be completed or kick off in 2025.
A Sheetz is expected to be the initial business to open at the mixed-use development taking shape at the intersection of Courthouse and Iron Bridge roads in Chesterfield. The 124-acre site is currently planned to feature around 425,000 square feet of commercial space and nearly 500 residential units, with a total estimated cost of $250 million to $400 million.
Sheetz is slated to open this spring and would be followed by the opening of a Virginia Credit Union branch and the start of construction on apartments later this year.
Despite larger economic challenges and some issues specific to the project that have delayed the construction, developer Robert Eckstein said Courthouse Landing is now building momentum.
“There’s a lot of stuff we’ve gotten done with, a lot of headwinds, with site conditions and stuff we inherited,” said Eckstein, who is part of the Florida-based development team that took over the project a couple years ago.
Another sign of progress at Courthouse Landing is the recent closing of land sales to tee up various tenant buildouts. The development group sold to Virginia Credit Union its 1.3-acre site for its future branch for $1.2 million in a deal that was recorded in early January. The 3.2-acre Sheetz site sold for $4.1 million in December to the gas station’s landlord, a Mathews-based LLC tied to Joseph Tomlinson, per online land records.
Eckstein said several more land deals are expected to close in the next couple months. The developer team acquired the entire Courthouse Landing site in early 2023 for around $7 million, and is selling parcels to others to develop their respective pieces of the property. Eckstein said 2024 was a challenging year to close deals but said it feels like things are starting to turn around.
“Last year was very slow,” Eckstein said in a late-January interview. “The sales market was sort of in the wait-and-see mode because of election uncertainty, interest rates and things like that.”
Edward Rose & Sons is on deck to build 300 apartments at Courthouse Landing, and is expected to close on land for its project in the second quarter. The firm is anticipated to break ground later in the year, Eckstein said.
Courthouse Landing is also slated to include 112 townhomes and 72 condos to be built by Stanley Martin Homes.
With VCU Health having pulled out of its initial plans to anchor Courthouse Landing with a 60,000-square-foot medical building, the development team is exploring big-box retailers as an alternative anchor.
That could include one major retailer or a handful of “junior” big-box stores, though the preference is a single large retailer, said Jeff Doxey of NAI Dominion, which is also part of the project.
Medical uses are still being eyed as a prominent piece of Courthouse Landing and the development group is in talks with an unidentified health system and medical practices to come to the project.
“We are talking to a large health system. We would like to talk to more of them. And we’re also talking to MOB (medical office building) specialty groups. We’re talking to someone who’s interested in an ambulatory surgical center,” Eckstein said. “(Medical users) bring good paying jobs, and they bring daytime traffic, and with the nighttime traffic you have a vibrant 16-hour center, not just an eight hours a day center.”
Courthouse Landing is currently envisioned as having 200,000 square feet of retail and 125,000 square feet of medical office space. Doxey said the final breakdown hasn’t yet been determined.
“It depends on how we progress with the retailer, and on the other hand how we progress with assembling these doctor groups for the MOB portion. The MOB could become more of a primary component of the project if these doctor groups align. So it’s really fluid,” Doxey said.
A hotel is also planned for Courthouse Landing, which also features road and pedestrian improvements both in the development and on Courthouse Road.
Other future tenants that have been publicly announced include Panera, Panda Express, a FirstBank branch, Five Guys and Starbucks, according to a leasing flyer.
Some previously announced tenants have since backed out of the project. In addition to VCU Health’s departure, Outback Steakhouse, ModWash and Chick-Fil-A have backed out.
Eckstein’s group, which also includes fellow Floridians Josh Rodstein and Edward Schmidt, took over the project from Dunphy Properties and Shuler Properties, which guided the project through its 2020 zoning approval. NAI Dominion has been part of the project since it was proposed in 2019.
I wonder if sound barriers are going to be built along 288. Many years ago I lived in a home in a subdivision that backed up to 288. When we first moved there (1989) the highway was still relatively quiet. By the time we left (2008), the noise was constant – and that was 17 years ago. The traffic is even heavier today.
Still, it’s a great location. Harry Daniel Park is very close by, and hopping directly onto 288 makes it fairly simple to get around the area. The elementary and high school are next to the whole complex.
That’s a very good point, Chris. I would hope that we’ll start to see sound barriers built along 288, particularly where higher-density residential development backs right up to the highway. As you said, traffic is much heavier today than it was when you left where you were some 17 years ago – and as both Chesterfield and metro Richmond continue to grow, that traffic will only get heavier.
Does the state handle installation of these sound barriers or is that left to the individual locality?
I believe the state does it with expansion projects. Otherwise it is the property owner’s responsibility.
Backed Out: VCU Health, Outback Steakhouse, Chick-Fil-A, ModWash. So far we have a Sheetz on the corner, and 300 apartments coming. “Gateway to Chesterfield” ! The 59 acres here that WAS owned by the county should have been used for school admin. offices. Instead, school offices and the EDA will be RENTING from long-time EDA contractor Timmons at Springline 60 (another questionable EDA project).