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Settlement date for Haymarket Town Center pushed back again
Once again, a projected settlement date for the overhaul of the Haymarket Town Center property by commercial developer Gerry Kennedy has been pushed back, this time to mid-September.Kennedy’s proposal is to convert the town center, which features the Haymarket Town Hall among other structures, into 18-20 small retail businesses by next June.
He also plan to relocate four historic buildings from around town onto the property and to add two new buildings.
The entire project is in the final site-plan approval phase.
There should also be eight or nine “small-office occupants” upstairs from the current town hall building, including accounting, engineering, consulting, law, realty and bookkeeping firms.
Most of those tenants will have between 200 and 1,200 square feet of office space. The largest available space would be 4,000 square feet.
“It’s just been a lot of engineering work to do,” said Kennedy during an Aug. 20 interview, adding that he has already submitted and received back volumes of paperwork from VDOT, the town civil engineer and the Prince William County Service Authority, among other agencies. “Everything is lined up.”
His engineers have lately been working on “small improvements” related to drainage pipes, water pipes and curbing.
“I like having another set of eyes on it,” said Kennedy, calling the review process as “professionals reviewing professionals.”
The project has had several setbacks since Kennedy initially pulled it after requests from the Haymarket Planning Commission regarding transportation improvements caused enough delays for him to essentially give up earlier this year.
Public outcry led the developer to reconsider and give it another shot, though he would not be able to meet his original construction deadline of Haymarket Day (Sept. 20) of this year.
During the summer, Kennedy and his agent Bryan Garcia reported a settlement date was likely by the end of July. Then it was moved to early August.
The Haymarket Town Council will still have to approve the final site plan twice and the planning commission will need to do so once before construction can officially begin, despite any settlement dates.
Town residents can expect renovation and construction crews on the property in late September or early October, according to Kennedy, while relocating the four historic buildings should take place either the last weekend of October or the first weekend of November.
After preparing the properties for about five weeks, the mover will do everything during one Sunday morning so as to have the least amount of impact on traffic moving along Washington Street, the town's main road.
As of last week, Kennedy said between 60 and 65 percent of the total office space that will be available has already been leased or is being negotiated.
“We’re pretty happy with that, actually, at this juncture,” he said.
Kennedy did not reveal the names of any of the aspiring retail tenants who have already either agreed to leases or who are negotiating them, but he did describe some of their businesses. Examples he provided include a white-tablecloth restaurant, a gift shop, an ice cream shop and a candy store.
“They’re all small businesses,” he said. “No McDonald's or Hardees or anything like that.”
Some of his critics, most notably Councilman Bob Weir, have disapproved of his plan in part because there is no main anchor store, such as a well-known restaurant.
Kennedy said that most of his tenants “already have businesses” in other locations and the design of the area is not meant to compete with strip malls.
“The site will look pretty good by the end of this year,” Kennedy said.
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