|
Background: The Mill Creek Town Center Plan
was initiated by the City in 1993 to implement the City’s Comprehensive Plan for
a new mixed-use center in the City’s central core area. A planning process for
the Town Center was prepared that included: preparing a community-based vision,
marketing the vision to the development community, refining the vision into a
development plan, preparing design guidelines and implementing the plan through
a public/private partnership.
The community-based vision was prepared by
the Town Center Steering Committee composed of property owners, downtown
merchants, residents and elected and appointed City and state officials.
The Town Center vision described a well-designed, mixed-use center that would
become the central focal area for business activity and community events,
organized around a traditional Main Street design. Marketing the vision to
the development community resulted in Buchan Bros. Investments securing an
option in 1994 on 2/3 of the land designated for the Town Center. Working
collectively with the developer, the Committee refined the initial vision into
the Town Center Development Plan and prepared the Town Center Design Guidelines
to control site planning, building massing, streets, landscaping, parking and
signage. A ground breaking ceremony was conducted in June 2002 and
construction of the infrastructure for the first of three phases began.
Town Center
Vision: The master plan for the Town Center is defined
by its spatial relationship to the existing business core, surrounding
residential neighborhoods, and the City’s most extensive environmentally
critical area. The plan provides for multi-storied buildings, strategically
placed pedestrian plazas and parking facilities organized around a new street
pattern that provides connections to adjacent neighborhoods and the existing
commercial core.
Current
Development Status: The master plan is divided into
three phases. Phase I includes 184,121 square feet of retail and office located
in ten buildings. Of the ten buildings in Phase I, four are completed and
occupied, two are under construction and the remaining five are in the building
permit approval process. The buildings are being developed by six different development
companies.
Wakefield Pacific LLC purchased the
remaining Town Center properties in 2003 and submitted plans for construction of
Phase II with eight buildings, totaling 113.284 square feet of retail. All eight
buildings are either occupied or are in the final stages of individual tenant
improvements.
The City Council approved Phase III of the Town Center
on January 25, 2005, and the Design Review Board approved the building designs,
landscaping and plaza design in the first half of 2005. The plan
for Phase III includes 128,200 square feet of retail, office and residential.
Construction has begun on four of the buildings and the remaining buildings are
expected to be under construction by 2006.
Leasing Contact Information
Town
Center Businesses |
