The Chatham County commissioners have approved a rezoning request for their largest commercial development yet on the fast-growing U.S. 15-501 corridor between Chapel Hill and Pittsboro.

The 500,000-square-foot Williams Corner will include about 200,000 square feet of retail space, as well as medical offices and 40 to 60 townhouses targeting established professionals and early retirees.

By comparison, nearby Cole Park Plaza and adjoining Chatham Crossing are about 100,000 square feet, said Travis Blake, the new project's developer.

Half of Williams Corner's commercial space, at Lystra Road and 15-501, is already leased, Blake said.

The project's tenants include UNC HealthCare, a national chain drug store, a bookstore, restaurants and a grocery store.

"We're really excited about getting it going," Blake said Monday. "The design of this project is something special and not seen before in this area."

The commissioners approved the rezoning last week.

Blake said Williams Corner will have a state-of-the-art wastewater treatment plant, which will be enclosed in a building and have no odor. The treated water, he added, will be used for cooling the large buildings and landscape features, such as fountains.

The buildings, he said, will include carpets made from recycled milk containers and a solar-energy component. "I hope we set the bar really high" for future development, he said.

Blake would not name the stores, but said the grocery store will be similar to Carrboro's Weaver Street Market.

A community group is starting a food cooperative called Chatham Marketplace on 15-501 just outside downtown Pittsboro. Spokeswoman Melissa Frey had not heard about Williams Corner or the new store.

"We are going to be up and running first, so we have that advantage," she said, "and we are deeper in the county, so we will suffer less competition from [other] alternative grocery stores."

More than 800 households have already signed up for the co-op, which Frey expects to open in early spring.

Williams Corner will be the fourth large shopping center in the eight miles between Chapel Hill and Fearrington Village. The others are at Southern Village in Chapel Hill, Cole Park Plaza near Manns Chapel Road, and Chatham Downs, now under construction.

Blake said he does not know whether the market can sustain all the shopping centers, but he noted that Briar Chapel, a 2,300 home subdivision, is being built south and east of Manns Chapel Road and west of U.S. 15-501.

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