Market Common owners moving on from failed housing plan, but say consequences may follow
Market Common expects to be at full retail capacity by year’s end, though a recent vote by city leaders to limit new rental units within the development could have consequences, its ownership group said.
“With the denial of this project, we are unable to fill that demand for a potential increase in sales that these residents would brought to the retail center,” Heather Gray, the property’s general manager, told the city council April 4.
Last week, the council voted down a plan by Market Common owner HomeFed to construct nearly 200 rental units at the intersection of Farrow Parkway and Phillis Boulevard – a project dubbed MarketWalk that would have generated nearly $472,000 a year in rental income.
As a result, Gray said during the meeting that HomeFed’s plans to spend “multiple tens of millions of dollars” rehabbing seven buildings along Reed Street and Howard Avenue has been shelved.
Paul Meunier, president of homeowners’ association The Reserve at Market Common, said he hopes developers come back with a project that would boost eating option within the shopping and retail hub.
He’s also not opposed to a hotel - an idea first floated for the land several years ago.
“We don’t want to see another Carolina Forest,” Meunier said. “If it gets to have so many houses down here, it’s no longer like the area we bought in.”
Despite the MarketWalk defeat, Gray said Market Common is at 97 percent capacity, and should be full by year’s end - including four new retail tenants.
“Restaurants have always been very popular in Market Common. This is the one area where we’ve seen growth and increased sales year-over-year,” Gray said. “Ownership prides itself in protecting tenants by not leasing to a competitor with the same use clause. As you can imagine, this business philosophy can hurt ownership, income and occupancy in the short term, however our philosophy is that if the tenants are successful we will be as well.”
Gray said Market Common saw record sales last year, with 2023 already running 10 percent above that pace.
“We have become a hometown center that primarily serves the needs of the local community that has supplemented the tourism industry in the summer,” Gray said.
Patty Jones opened Centro Shoes at her Reed Street location in 2016. Originally working out of 900 square feet, the store recently expanded to a 3,000-square-foot site.
“I think Market Common is really good about trying to have different businesses that people would be searching out, making sure it covers all the bases. Same for its restaurants,” she said. “It’s a good mix of just locals with nationals and the festival that they put on give of it give it that community, small down feel.”
The city is also expected to renegotiate terms of its maintenance agreement with Market Common. Since its 2008 grand opening, officials have allocated $197,000 annually to help with upkeep.
That figure likely will increase under terms of a new deal, though a final number has not been made public.
“The reason I brought this up was not only to see how this is a benefit to the public but also to make sure that Market Common as a corporation is being treated fairly in regards to what we give to you,” said councilman John Krajc during the meeting. Krajc requested that Market Common’s managers appear before the council.