First commercial tenants open at The Lake development in Chesterfield

The entrance to The Lake, a mixed-use project under construction near Brandermill in Chesterfield, features an illuminated drive-thru tunnel for a Starbucks. (Courtesy Flatwater Cos.)

With its first retail tenants now open, more construction is expected to break ground this year at The Lake development taking shape in western Chesterfield.

Sports gear store Soccer Post and a Chipotle restaurant have opened in the 20,000-square-foot, three-building commercial outparcel at the mixed-use project’s entrance off Genito Road. A Starbucks and Saffron Nail Lounge are expected to open in the coming weeks.

With that section nearing completion, Brett Burkhart of Flatwater Cos., which is developing The Lake, said more construction projects would follow, pending an approval tied to roadwork at the development.

“As we’re finishing up the outparcels, we’re still waiting on a final permit to start on some more road infrastructure, and then in the next few months, you should see construction with our first multifamily project, a hotel, some more retail and townhomes,” Burkhart said.

Construction is largely finished on a commercial outparcel at The Lake, where the development’s first tenants have opened in recent weeks. (Jack Jacobs photo)

Among the next pieces would be a 113-room SpringHill Suites by Marriott slated to start construction this year on a parcel behind the development’s initial commercial section. The hotel would be operated by Texas-based Aimbridge Hospitality, and would be the first of two hotels planned to open at The Lake.

Last year, Flatwater sold a 1.5-acre parcel for $1.3 million to Stanley Shield Partnership, which intends to build a medical office building between the hotel and commercial storefronts at The Lake’s entrance. Online land records show that was the second piece of the 105-acre project site to be sold off by Flatwater so far.

That sale followed the 2022 acquisition of a 16-acre parcel on Genito Road by Breeden Co., which paid Flatwater $6.1 million for the site. The 280-unit Vida on the Lake apartment complex is expected to break ground there later this year.

This month, plans were filed for infrastructure improvements tied to 120 townhomes at The Lake, as well as a 6,000-square-foot restaurant shell building.

An upcoming SpringHill Suites is expected to be one of two hotels to open at The Lake. (Jack Jacobs photo)

Work also continues on the development’s anchor, a 13-acre recreational lake. It would feature a cable system to allow wakeboarding, as well as a floating obstacle course that Burkhart likened to a trampoline park or course like those seen in the game show “Ninja Warrior.”

The lake and an amphitheater are currently expected to open this time next year, a delay from a previous schedule to open the water feature this summer. A planned 6-acre surf pool is currently expected to start construction by the end of 2025 and open in 2027.

Road projects still to be completed with the development include a traffic signal at the intersection of Genito and Kelly Green Drive/Genito Place, as well as an extension of Genito Place to connect it with Tredegar Lake Parkway.

The Lake development is planned to have a 13-acre lake and 6-acre surf pool in addition to more than 1,000 apartments and townhomes. (Courtesy Flatwater Cos.)

The Lake is planned to have 250,000 square feet of office, retail, entertainment and restaurant uses. The 105-acre property is zoned for nearly 1,200 residential units, and there are plans for two five-story mixed-use buildings with about 300 apartments each and ground-floor retail.

Burkhart has said that demand would drive the development of the project, which is expected to have a five- to 10-year buildout. English Construction is the general contractor on The Lake, Timmons Group and Rummel Klepper & Kahl are the engineers, and Liquid Design is the lead architect.

In 2022, The Lake was estimated to cost more than $323 million. Burkhart didn’t share an updated cost estimate in an interview this week.

The Lake has been in the works for years. The project, southwest of Route 288’s interchange with Powhite Parkway, secured zoning approval in 2017. In 2022, the Chesterfield Board of Supervisors approved a grant performance agreement anticipated to provide up to $28 million in incentives.

Noting that the project recently has been largely focused on creating the lake feature and building out the site’s infrastructure, Burkhart said he is bullish on the development as it starts to generate activity with its initial tenants.

“We’ve done a lot of work over the last two years, putting in infrastructure and building the lake,” Burkhart said. “I would say we’re really happy with the success our first few tenants have had and that’s given us a lot of confidence in the project.”