CLEARING UNDER WAY FOR NEW SHOPPING CENTER

Oct. 6. By Dave Yochum. Groundbreaking has already taken place at West Catawba and Knox Road where Charter Cornelius will build a 48,225-square-foot shopping center on 11 acres.

“We will move forward now toward a project grand opening in 2020 mid-year,” says Paul Brandes, principal at Charter Realty & Development Corp., the Greenwich, CT company that is developing the site which it has held for two decades.

WEST CATAWBA RUNS ALONG THE BOTTOM OF THIS SITE PLAN

Charter was ​founded in 1993 by Brandes and Daniel Zelson. Charter has acquired and developed more than 60 shopping centers and freestanding properties comprising nearly 10 million square feet with a total acquisition and development cost in excess of $1 billion.

Tenants so far include Five Guys burgers and fries, Aldi’s, Chick-fil-A and Andy’s Frozen Custard. A few others will be announced shortly, Brandes said.

The Cornelius Town Board approved the rezoning for the property back in November after a two-hour public hearing. Residents voiced their opposition to the project.

The town and developer had negotiated a 17 point agreement which outlined a number of steps which would need to be done for the project to proceed, including traffic remediation measures outlined by the state DOT and a traffic impact analysis.