It isn’t named yet. But a gourmet grocery store is getting closer for Lake Wylie.

The new specialty grocer coming to RiverGate still hasn’t been named, but it is a step closer to arrival.

Charlotte planners held a public hearing Dec. 19 on a rezoning for almost 12 acres on N.C. 49, capped by Steele Creek Road and Hoover Creek Boulevard. A final Charlotte City Council decision date hasn’t been set, but planners are recommending approval of the land use change developers stated last month would include a “gourmet grocery” site.

"The initial design intent, which is to create a walkable development, has been maintained," said Tammie Keplinger, rezoning planning manager for the city.

The new development, just over the South Carolina border where S.C. 160 West near Fort Mill and Tega Cay turns into Streele Creek Road, could become a focal point both for Steele Creek and Lake Wylie shoppers. At a community meeting Nov. 15, developers old Steele Creek Residents Association leaders a gourmet grocery store was in the works.

It wouldn’t be Whole Foods, they said, but they otherwise declined to name it.

The ongoing zoning change would reduce the overall square footage of the project, increase the maximum building size for the grocery store to the north, allow a drive-thru on another building to the south and take out a condition requiring mixed use for a building, so it doesn’t have to be multi-tenant.

The changes will mean the site can have up to seven buildings, instead of eight. One part of the property already has been developed.

“This is just a site plan amendment to a development that's already under construction,” said Bridge Grant, representing Childress Klein Properties.

The overall site will have up to 90,000 square feet of office and retail space pending the zoning change.

"It modifies the development standards related to the square footage, the drive-thru window restrictions, the number of proposed buildings and the site layout," Keplinger said.

The site sits between RiverGate and CMC-Steele Creek. There was a recent zoning denial for a self storage unit just across the highway, but approval for apartments right beside that parcel. A site on the same side of the highway as the grocery site came up twice, most recently in November, for rezoning to allow a self storage site. A large apartment plan just south of the grocery site was approved in recent months.

"We've seen some activity in this area in recent years," Keplinger said.

Between the shopping center and hospital, the future gourmet grocery site is central to it all.

"This is the RiverGate mixed-use area,” Keplinger said. “This is right in the middle of the activity center."

This story was originally published December 27, 2016 at 12:52 PM with the headline "It isn’t named yet. But a gourmet grocery store is getting closer for Lake Wylie.."