It was smooth sailing Aug. 7 as Heritage Creek Development presented the Fayetteville City Council with an improved proposal on the 13.7-acre Villages at Lafayette retail/office/residential development along Ga. Highway 54 West.

Plans for the 175,000-square-foot development decreased the square footage of the anchor store, decreased the number of parking spaces, added underground residential parking and increased buffers between The Villages residential component and along Hwy. 54.

The project received unanimous approval from the council.

Heritage Creek’s Wayne Kendall told council members plans for the anchor store for the project had been reduced from 45,000 square feet to 35,000 and that parking was reduced from 557 spaces to 506. Kendall in his re-working of the proposal said that buffers on the north and south sides of the 13.7-acre development had been increased.

Heritage Creek had been held up since spring when potential anchor LA Fitness decided to back out of the project. A tenant for the anchor will not hold up the project, Kendall said, noting that the first component of the development will likely be a restaurant for the 1.3-acre out-parcel located on the southwest corner of the site, at Lafayette Avenue and Hwy. 54.

Though he did not disclose the prospect, Kendall said he was negotiating with a restaurant that would be investing $1.5 million in the building and wanted a long-term lease.

The prospect, he added, was interested in being able to access patrons from the new Stella’s Place older adult development across Hwy. 54. The 86-unit Stella’s Place with its single-family attached homes was also approved Aug. 7.

What would potentially be the second portion of the site to develop would be either the two 40,000-square-foot office/condo buildings immediately to the west of the square across from Hampton Inn or the four smaller retail buildings, at 5,000 square feet each, that will front Hwy. 54. Both could be developed in a similar time frame, Kendall said.

The two L-shaped retail/office/condo buildings will have retail on the first floor and office/condos on the second and third floors.

An upgraded feature for the buildings now includes underground parking with space for one vehicle per unit. The buildings will have the appearance of three-story structures from the front and will look like four-story buildings from the rear, from which parking below the buildings will be accessed.

Each building will contain nine upscale condos, ranging in size from a 604-square-foot loft to a 2,171-square-foot townhouse, Kendall said. Seven of the nine units in each building will be flats or townhouses and will average more than 1,500 square feet.

The development will eventually feature seven buildings instead of the 13 originally approved under the Planned Community Development in 2001. The square footage of the proposal approved Aug. 7 remains the same at approximately 175,000.

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