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Rosewood Partners close on land for lifestyle center

By Heidi Cenac – Anderson Independent Mail
Thursday, January 11, 2007

ANDERSON COUNTY — Imagine pulling out from Interstate Boulevard. Instead of facing a large, white house surrounded by trees, there are shoppers bustling down a landscaped walkway and couples dining in a sidewalk café.

Creating a retail village is the concept behind the estimated $50 million development Rosewood Partners LLC is planning for 60.59 acres at Interstate 85 and U.S. 76, an area commonly known as the Sally Rose estate.

Rosewood Partners closed on the land Wednesday, but the project was first announced in December. Ned Pettigrew, managing general partner of Rosewood Partners, said the group started work last year on the anticipated 500,000-square-foot lifestyle center, currently referred to as Rosewood Mall.

According to the Urban Land Institute, a lifestyle center is an open-air development with high-quality architecture often resembling a downtown. The developments focus on specific retail sectors and include several commercial uses, typical of a traditional Main Street.

Rosewood Mall will be the first development of its kind in the Upstate, similar to Mt. Pleasant Towne Center in Mt. Pleasant and The Streets of Toringdon in Charlotte, N.C.

Anderson County Council Member Bill McAbee said District 4 and all of Anderson County should benefit from the development, which will bring additional tax revenue to the schools. Retail experts agreed that the project could have a positive impact on Anderson’s residents and retailers.

There are close to 160 lifestyle centers in the United States. They typically attract upscale, national retailers and high-income shoppers, said Patrice Duker, a spokeswoman for the International Council of Shopping Centers.

Lifestyle centers complement existing retail instead of competing with it, Ms. Duker said.

“The lifestyle center will bring so many more retailers to that area without increasing the target market. It’s a good thing,” said Marianne Bickle, who chairs the Department of Retailing at the University of South Carolina’s College of Hospitality, Retail and Sports Management.

Property values for existing retailers and residents will likely increase as a result of the development, Ms. Bickle said.

The Sally Rose estate was the perfect site for several reasons, Mr. Pettigrew said. It’s a pin corner on I-85 with significant frontage, side access and entrance options. The site will pull from the Anderson and Clemson areas, which Mr. Pettigrew expects to grow as retirees move toward the mountains and around Hartwell Lake.

The construction of a new elementary school near Pendleton and Clemson developer Tom Winkopp’s interest in the former WestPoint Stevens plant site are both signs that the area is growing, he said.

Rosewood Partners will spend six months to a year planning the development before residents start to see construction. The partnership also is acquiring additional property in the same vicinity for this or future projects, Mr. Pettigrew said.

Once complete, the lifestyle center could add around 1,000 jobs.

Wood and Partners of Hilton Head Island and Atlanta will serve as the project’s land planners and lead firm.

Other South Carolina firms involved in the project include Davis and Floyd of Greenwood and Greenville, Newkirk Environmental Inc. of Charleston and local surveyor Samuel B. Glenn Jr. from Anderson.

    

© 2007 Laura Hardy Graphic Communication. All Rights Reserved.