South county neighbors pleased to see shopping center on horizon

Virginia developer says planning for Indian Head Highway complex still in early stages

‘‘A lot of people I’ve talked to think it’s a good idea,” said Burnside, a Brandywine resident. ‘‘Now we won’t have to go to Waldorf to have good restaurants.”

Seth Long, senior investments manager at Regency, said the project is still in its infancy. He could not predict cost or acreage because the company has not officially acquired any land. The company does hold exclusive rights to the private land through a contract purchase, Long said. A feasibility study of the development is under way.

Long said that in a contract purchase, a developer typically puts money down in good faith and if they decide against using the property they would get the money back. However, he would not provide specific details of the Accokeek Crossing contract.

The center is planned to include one anchor store, such as a grocery store or large box store, as well as possible restaurants and smaller retail stores.

‘‘We’re formulating a vision,” Long said. ‘‘But there will be a significant retail component.”

Long said the first step is meeting with local civic associations to see what kind of retail development they might want to see. He said Regency could consider almost any national retailer or restaurant for the project.

‘‘We have relationships with every nationally known retail tenant in the country,” he said.

According to its Web site, Regency Centers is a leading national owner, operator and developer of grocery-anchored and community shopping centers with ownership of 413 retail properties. Many of their centers are anchored by grocery stores Safeway, Kroger, Publix and Supervalue.

Long declined to mention any specific stores that might occupy the Accokeek development.

Southside Investment Partners, a Baltimore company, has partnered with Regency to help bring the venture to fruition.

According to its Web site, Southside has developed, owns and manages nearly 2 million square feet of retail space in the Washington, D.C.⁄Baltimore region.

However, Kelly Canavan, an Accokeek resident and president of the Accokeek, Mattawoman, Piscataway Creeks Community Council, said the development would ruin the rural integrity of Accokeek and cause pollution.

She said the center would increase the area’s number of impervious surfaces, or surfaces that water cannot pass through, and cause runoff.

‘‘The runoff into the nearby creeks would cause pollution,” Canavan said.

Canavan also mentioned that the retail center would cause more traffic in an already congested area.

But Burnside said she thinks the convenience will be attractive to residents in both Accokeek and Brandywine. The closest Target and Wal-Mart stores are a little more than six miles away in Waldorf.

‘‘Now we have to go to Charles County for shopping. It will be nice to have something close to where we live,” Burnside said.