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With accessibility and opportunity at the forefront, development continues to accelerate in the area of Victory Drive and Skidaway Road.
A new site at the southwest corner of the intersection will include a CVS/Pharmacy, which currently is located across the intersection in the Crossroads Shopping Center, 2100 E. Victory Dr., and an additional 1.4 acres of unspecified use, according to Roy Smithburg of real estate firm First City Investors Inc.
Tom Thomson, executive director of the Metropolitan Planning Commission, said the destruction of the well-known “eyesore” at the corner and the relocation of the CVS are testaments to the continued facelift of the area.
“As traffic with disposable income goes through the intersection,” said Thomson, “it has made the area more attractive for new real estate investment.”
He said the addition of this next development will continue a recent trend of putting the area’s retail centers to higher and better use.
For CVS, the move across the intersection will mean a departure from one of the southeast’s oldest shopping centers, said Lisa Van Dusen, who owns Crossroads Shopping Center.
“As sorry as we are to see CVS leave our shopping center,” said Van Dusen, “we are glad that they’re finally making improvements to that area and hopefully it will provide a landscaped and productive corner across the street.”
She said the CVS relocation is planned for the end of this year, and she has yet to find a new tenant for the 10,700-square-foot area.
CVS will join the list of recent developments in the corridor, with a new Chick-fil-a and Walgreens Pharmacy across the street and a Whole Foods on the west side of Truman Parkway.
Thomson said a competitor to Whole Foods had planned to enter the market opposite the shopping center on Victory Drive but most recent predictions include a carpet store and restaurants instead.
With new developments painting the landscape, Thomson said rent is expected to increase, which will drive out tenants in under-utilized buildings and bring in more development.
He said it could be 10 or more years before the area becomes fully developed.
Van Dusen said she does not plan to expand her shopping center but will find a tenant to replace CVS.
With easy access to Wilmington
and Skidaway islands, as well as the Historic District, Victory and Skidaway has been a shopping and entertainment destination dating back to the 1920s but has been revived only in the past 15 to 20 years.
Marie McCall, owner of Home Again Consignment Interiors, located in the Crossroads Shopping Center, said a rebirth of the area began with the entrance of Piggly Wiggly, now a Bi-Lo, in Crossroads Shopping Center.
A Home Depot and Target then followed.
“It is an awesome rebirth of a very populated area that at one time didn’t have a lot of services,” said McCall.
She said the new developments have brought more foot traffic to her store, which opened two years ago.
After Walgreens was built across the street, she said, the CVS move was predictable and she hopes a tenant of similar caliber will move in to the soon-to-be vacated store.
“Recently this area has been attracting a health conscious clientele,” said McCall. “It will be a challenge, I think, to replace the CVS.”
A yoga studio and a fitness center are also located in Crossroads Shopping Center.
The key to continued growth, said Thomson, is the area’s accessibility.
He said the area is only about 10 minutes from Skidaway Island, even though 50,000 to 70,000 cars travel through the intersection on a daily basis, and developers and businesses are realizing the opportunities for expansion.
“As opportunities continue to grow,” said Thomson, “higher and better use developments are happening and will continue to happen.”