Shelter Cove Towne Centre

In the 1980s, the Town’s first enclosed shopping center had opened with two anchor tenants and dozens of tenant spaces as well as a food court.  While the property had frontage on Broad Creek, a tidal estuary, the developer had turned its back on this amenity, relegating this area to an overhead electrical transmission line and loading docks.  By the 2000s, the mall, like so many across the country, was failing. 

After several band-aid solutions had been rejected by the community, a new buyer came forward with a plan to tear down large portions of the mall and to replace it with an outdoor power center, anchored by the existing Belk department store and a new Kroger grocery store.  The powerline would be relocated, and apartments would be added along the waterfront.  However, there would be no public access to, and only limited views of, the waterfront.  Steve Riley and staff believed this was not big enough win for the community.  With the strong support of the Mayor and Council, they presented an alternative vision for the area.

Immediately adjacent to the mall property was a town-owned parcel, with over a half-mile frontage on Broad Creek.  A portion of this property, adjacent to the mall site had been minimally cleared and developed as an area for events and festivals.  It was primitive, with limited parking.  Further along the waterfront was a recently opened Veterans Park.  Staff proposed a public-private partnership involving a land swap.  The waterfront portion of mall property would become a large community park, better equipped for special events, with pathways along the waterfront, a large playground, and fountains.  Shops and restaurants would face the park.  The new grocery store would face the highway.  Both the Town and new shopping center management would program activities in the park.    The transmission line would be routed through the parking lot fronting the highway.  Landscaping along the highway frontage, much of it existing, would serve as an effective screen.  Most of the proposed apartments would be relocated to prior event space that the Town was offering to swap. The Town would retain ownership of a strip of land along the waterfront, providing a link to Veterans Park to the north of the new apartment site, creating a nearly mile-long public waterfront trail that would link to the Town’s extensive island-wide pathway network.

These modifications were supported by the new property owners, the property owners’ association, nearby residents, and the Town Council. The resulting project has been a great success, and the developer has used it as a model in several other communities.

“Steve and his team negotiated a public-private partnership that took a failing enclosed mall and redeveloped it

into a mixed-used retail and residential development with a signature waterfront park as its focal point.”

Drew Laughlin, long-time civic leader, Town Council member and former Mayor