GLEN CARBON, Ill. — Most of the tenants are signed and nearing construction for the first phase of a developer’s new $70 million Metro East shopping complex, with Olive Garden tapped as the latest tenant.
Orchard Town Center in Glen Carbon could be one of the region’s last ground-up retail shopping centers. Developer The Staenberg Group purchased the 52-acre site at 2399 Troy Road earlier this year. TSG, based in Olivette, bought the former orchard for $11 million from Sunnyside Partnership LP and has also agreed to purchase another 14 adjoining acres in Edwardsville from Madison County for $3.87 million.
Anchor tenant Meijer, a big-box retailer and grocer, signed in May to open its first St. Louis-area store at the site after Menards dropped out of the project following a disagreement with TSG. With the addition of national restaurant chain Olive Garden, the first phase, consisting of an anchor and four outlots, is nearly filled out, with three of the four spots taken. Chick-Fil-A and Tidal Wave Car Wash were the first businesses to sign deals to build on the sites surrounding the future Meijer store.
Orchard Town Center will be developed in two phases, with plans for everything to be built out by 2024, said Tim Lowe, senior vice president of leasing and development for TSG.
The phases are driven by traffic improvements that have to be constructed leading into the complex, which limits how many outlots can be developed at once, Lowe said. The second phase could consist of a 50,000-square-foot big box store or several tenants that add up to that space, along with eight more outlots, for 12 total facing Troy Road or Governors Parkway.
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