Big retail center proposed at I-40, I-85

CHAPEL HILL -- Local developers have applied to build a 128-acre retail center at the intersection of Interstates 40 and 85 and Buckhorn Road in rural Orange County.

The project, approaching a Streets at Southpoint in size, could generate an estimated $7.3 million a year in sales and property tax, according to the developers’ application.

The site sits just outside Mebane, which would supply water and sewer service, in one of three economic development nodes the county created over a decade ago, said Craig Benedict, county planning director.

Jim Parker of Summit Consulting Engineers of Hillsborough submitted the application for local developers calling themselves Buckhorn Road Associates. He did not want to name the developers today.

Aaron Nelson, president and CEO of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce, called the proposal “extraordinary.” The true economic impact would be even greater than the tax revenue if you consider the multiplier effect of salaries paid local workers and recycled in the community. The project could create 5,000 jobs, according to the application.

The developers plan three districts within the project, Parker said.

One would have a small-town feel like the outdoor portion of Durham’s Streets at Southpoint shopping mall or Market Street in Chapel Hill’s Southern Village planned community. John Fugo, a principal in Montgomery Development Carolina Corp., is named a manager in the development application but did not return a call to his office this morning.