Development To Wed Homes, Retail

Ambitious, Upscale Project Envisioned In Rockingham

HARRISONBURG-Preston Lake, a mixed-use development that broke ground earlier this month, will change the area's retail market and residential opportunities dramatically, officials say. Preston Lake is a mixed-use development that is to include 515 residential units as well as retail and office space. Hine Group is constructing the development at the intersection of U.S. 33 and Massanetta Springs Road in eastern Rockingham County.

Jared Burden, an agent for Cottonwood Realty who is working with the Hine Group to attract businesses to Main Street Preston Lake, called the development a "lifestyle center" that is unlike any other in western Virginia.

The neighborhood will include flats priced at more than $150,000, Charleston-style row houses priced in the low to mid-$300,000s, cottages priced in the $400,000s, and estate homes priced in the $600,000s, Burden said.

"They will be all upscale," Burden said. "This is a different kind of living, more citylike."

Two Retailers Signed On

Aside from offering high-end residential options, Preston Lake will include a Main Street that will be comparable to Barracks Road in Charlottesville, Burden said.

It will offer high-end nationally recognized retailers that will boost the area's economic market, he said.

Two businesses already have signed letters of intent to locate in Main Street Preston Lake, although negotiations aren't final, Burden said. Those businesses are Talbots clothing and Bookbinders Grill, he said. Preston Lake "will attract the kind of retailers that aren't in this market," Burden said. "It will keep retail dollars here that are now going across the mountain to Charlottesville."

Shops and restaurants will be laid out in a fashion that will encourage guests to walk around and hang out as they would in a thriving downtown, Burden said.

"It's a different kind of shopping experience," he said.

Although Preston Lake will offer a downtown atmosphere, it will not take away from Harrisonburg's downtown shopping district, said Eddie Bumbaugh, executive director of Harrisonburg Downtown Renaissance. "They're two different markets," Bumbaugh said. "Theirs is primarily national chains, while our downtown is independent, locally owned specialty shops. "I think these two can exist in harmony."

Future Developments

Preston Lake is the first mixed-use development of its kind to come to the area, but local officials say they hope it's not the last. County Administrator Joe Paxton said developments like Preston Lake are attractive because they offer not only residential diversity, but also include retail businesses that will generate tax revenue. "I think it's certainly something the board would encourage" in the future, Paxton said. "It has the retail component that helps pay for the services" that the residential area will require.

The county has other parcels, including land on U.S. 33 near Massanutten Resort, that would be suitable for similar mixed-use developments, Paxton said. But no plans have been made for such developments, he said.

Harrisonburg Councilman Charles Chenault said that while the city doesn't have large parcels available, it, too, would like to attract mixed-use developments. Chenault said the city's large downtown buildings are ideal for mixed use, because they can accommodate retail shops on the lower floors, office space in the middle and apartments on the top floors.

The former City Exchange building is an example of a mixed-use development in the city. It features apartments on the upper levels and a restaurant called Downtown 56 that just opened in the lower level.

"I think a day is going to come when we're going to see" more mixed use downtown, Chenault said. "I think we're getting people in the area that are interested in living downtown."

While the county and city are interested in landing more developments similar to Preston Lake, Burden said he doesn't think that will happen any time soon.

"I would think it would be unlikely [to attract another] retail/lifestyle center like this in the Harrisonburg/Rockingham County market in the near future because of population and demographics," Burden said.

Contact Jenny Jones at 574-6286 or jjones@dnronline.com