Story courtesy of Whitney McKnight from The Edge
BEREA—A national grocery chain is expected to anchor a mixed-use commercial development planned to open in Berea by early 2028, according to a lawyer involved with the project.
During a Planning and Zoning Commission business session on Tuesday night, Erik Lettig, general counsel for Berea Development HP, LLC, shared details about the proposed shopping center. His remarks were part of a hearing to rezone three parcels at the corner of Richmond Road (US Hwy 25) and the Berea Bypass (Ky 956) from agriculture (UC-7) to commercial (B-2).
“We’ll have an anchor tenant in the center of the retail development,” Lettig said. “You typically have the retail all in the back, and it can [include] single family or higher density residential [units]—townhomes or apartments, but not residential stacked over commercial.”
Berea Development HP, LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hamburg Place, the developer of the mega shopping complex on Man-O’-War Blvd., on the eastern side of Lexington.
The three parcels to be developed currently are in the county. Formerly part of a farm, the properties were assigned the street addresses 646, 558, and 673 Richmond Road. The collective 21 acres are currently under contract for purchase by the developer, Lettig told The Edge after the meeting.
Berea Development HP, LC is a single purpose entity owned by Patrick Madden, a developer who expects to close on the Berea deal in early 2027, pending all necessary approvals for the proposal, according to Lettig. The current owners, Darrin and Cheryl Chasteen, purchased the properties in July of 2022, county records show.
First, the properties must be annexed into the Berea City limits. At last week’s Council meeting, an ordinance authorizing the annexation received its first reading. Council will vote on the measure next Tuesday, October, 20.
The second step is a zone change. The County previously zoned the three parcels for agriculture. The Commission unanimously voted in a roll call vote at Tuesday night’s meeting to approve a request by the current owner of the combined properties to zone the parcels for business. Assuming the City Council approves the annexation, the combined property will go from UC-7, agriculture to B-2, major business.
Then, if all goes to plan, the newly annexed B-2 site will be added to the forthcoming update of the City’s Comprehensive Plan, which is nearing completion, according to Amanda Haney, Berea’s codes and planning administrator, who spoke at Tuesday night’s meeting.
Berea city attorney Jerry Gilbert (left) swears in project engineer Jihad Hallany and attorney for Berea Development HP, LLC, Erik Lettig (far right). Melissa Isaacs of Berea Codes and Planning sits next to Gilbert. Photo: Whitney McKnight
Jihad Hallany, the principal engineer on the project, testified to the Commission that the zoning change was “appropriate” since the combined properties are completely surrounded by the city of Berea, and not agriculture. Hallany also listed the requisite infrastructure that already exists at or near the site, including sewer trunk lines.
“Given the nature of the utilities being on the site, and the location of the property on major roadways, we believe that ‘agricultural zone’ is not the suitable zone,” Hallany said. “A commercial zone is more suitable for that property,” he said.
The findings of facts surrounding the zone change request will be presented to City Council during next week’s regularly shelled meeting before Councilmembers vote on whether to approve the annexation.
A third contingency for the project is the completion of the Kenway Street extension to Hwy 1016, according to Hallany, who explained that the throughway will serve as an egress onto the bypass. That project has been ongoing this year since receiving federal and state funds.
A slide presented to the Berea Planning and Zoning Commission showing the boundary lines of a proposed development at the corner of the Berea Bypass and Hwy 25. Photo: Whitney McKnight
Lastly, once all approvals are in place, the specific development plans will be made public by P and Z during an open meeting, Haney said. The meeting will be announced, per usual, on the City’s Facebook page.
Nicholas Scoville, a resident who lives across from the site where the retail complex is to be developed, spoke during the public comment portion of the meeting. He expressed his concerns that where the portion of Hwy 25 which runs between his property and the proposed development site narrows from four lanes down to two, there consistently are collisions with his mailbox and trash cans.
“For some reason, this transition catches people off guard,” Scoville testified. “I’m concerned the increased traffic, or even distractions from the signage [of the new development] could cause more issues at this transition,” he said.
The developers are meeting with the state transportation cabinet to discuss a traffic study next week, according to Lettig. Hallany said that after the meeting, he will report back to the City with an update on traffic patterns for the development.
Lettig told The Edge that the developer was still in negotiations with the grocery chain, but that he was “pretty confident” the deal would go through.
“Everything comes together once we land the grocery, pretty much,” he said in the interview.
If the deal were to fall through, however, Lettig said that there are other grocery chains that are interested in the deal. Madden, the developer of Hamburg Place, also has complexes either completed or under way in various locations around the state, including a new one on Nicholasville Road in northern Jessamine County, and another in Louisville. National grocers the developer has worked with previously include Costco, Kroger, and Meijer.
Until recently, conventional wisdom was that Berea’s population was too small to merit landing a national grocery chain. But Lettig said that recent economic trends in the region are prompting retailers to take a closer look.
“There are new businesses coming, a lot of jobs created in the area, which kind of created a critical mass of people within close proximity of the site we’re looking at,” Lettig said.
When asked if the news that Walmart would be relocating from Exit 76 to Exit 77, and would be building a larger grocery section factored in the decision to locate a second grocery retailer near that exit, Lettig deflected, saying that the market research was not done by his company, but by the retailers themselves, who in turn work with Lettig’s employer to find sites where the retailers can locate new facilities.
A Walmart spokesperson previously told The Edge in an interview that the corporate retailer’s move to its new location in Berea was prompted by a desire to offer “expanded grocery options”.
***This syndicated story is copyrighted by The Edge, a locally owned and operated independent newsroom in Berea, Kentucky. All rights reserved. For more information, visit theedgebereaky.com.***
