Harris Teeter’s plans heat up for new stores in fast-growing Lake Wylie and Fort Mill
Construction of a new Harris Teeter shopping center in Lake Wylie should begin within months. By that time, another store may be well on its way in Fort Mill.
Two anticipated Harris Teeters, one at Five Points in Lake Wylie and another on Fort Mill Parkway in Fort Mill, would be similar in size at about 60,000 square feet. They’d also bring new retail options to rapidly growing areas.
In Lake Wylie, those additions will be visible soon. “We’ll start construction third quarter this year,” said Randy Green, senior vice president of property and asset management for Charlotte-based retail real estate company Aston Properties.
Shopping center build-out typically takes a year, Green said. This one at 5366 Hwy. 55 E. will take two, with an opening expected in fall 2026.
Plans also include four outparcel businesses at about an acre each and roughly 20,000 square feet of small shop retail space. The outparcel and retail spaces likely would have the types of businesses common to grocery store shopping centers such as quick-serve or sit-down restaurants, Green said. Only Harris Teeter is signed on so far.
“We’ve got some interest for some folks,” Green said. “Nothing we can announce at this point.”
A company set up through Aston Properties bought three pieces of land in the Five Points area on March 1 for almost $1.1 million. Each property, two on S.C. 55 and one on Charlotte Highway, is less than an acre but provides highway frontage.
Then on April 8, the same company bought about 33 acres at 5366 Hwy. 55 East for $3.4 million. That property backs up to the Paddlers Cove subdivision and sits between the smaller ones purchased in March. Aston is co-developing the site with Charlotte-based Durban Development.
It will bring a well-known grocery store and shopping to a part of Lake Wylie growing with new homes and business.
Harris Teeter, which is based in Matthews, North Carolina, has five stores in the region. Three are in Fort Mill. Rock Hill and Indian Land have one each.
New Fort Mill Harris Teeter plan
Another bustling area, this one in Fort Mill, would add a seventh area Harris Teeter.
Fort Mill Town Council will get its first look at a rezoning needed for a new shopping center on Fort Mill Parkway. The town planning commission will look at detailed plans this month.
Last fall, Harris Teeter Properties applied to rezone 15 acres between Dobys Bridge Park and Fort Mill Parkway, which is what comes to council Monday night. They would combine with others bought by Harris Teeter in 2015 to create a 47-acre shopping center anchored by the grocery store, according to documents the company submitted to the town.
Though Fort Mill has three Harris Teeter stores already, none are within 5 miles of the Fort Mill Parkway spot known as Catawba Ridge Market. The area has grown in recent years to include Catawba Ridge High School and the Elizabeth neighborhood that eventually will have more than 1,000 homes and apartments.
York County’s Pennies for Progress road construction program has ongoing road widening work on the parkway, and could add more money for parkway upgrades if county voters approve a new Pennies campaign on a Nov. 5 referendum ballot. Pennies is a one-cent sales tax program for roads that voters can choose to put in place for seven years.
The property developer met with town planners last fall to discuss a new traffic study for a store to open in 2026. Documents submitted to the town show a Harris Teeter and fuel pump center, two strip retail areas and other business options like fast food restaurants.
There were nine outparcel lots on those plans last fall.
Updated documents submitted ahead of Monday’s council review are similar.
A revised traffic study is still based on a 61,000-square-foot grocery store expected to open in 2026. It also lists 14 fuel pumps, almost 27,000 square feet of strip retail, a 10,000-square-foot vet clinic, almost 10,000 square feet of fast food restaurant space with drive-thrus, a 4,000-square-foot sit down restaurant and an almost 2,000-square-foot bank.
Submitted sketch plans still show nine outparcel spaces in the development.
This story was originally published May 13, 2024 at 11:49 AM.
