Oconee’s newest shopping center

Those interested in how Oconee’s next shopping center will take shape gathered last night for a bureaucratic procedure applied for by the developers.  In the end, what tentatively is to reflect the name of the former property owners, Thornwell Village Children’s Home, the shopping center developers received their four requested variances from the Oconee Board of Zoning Appeals.  The variances cover where store signs may be mounted and how they are to be seen from the highway, U-S 123/the Sandifer Boulevard across from Better Furniture Outlet.  Randy Smith, partner/developer of Landmark Development, Charlotte, North Carolina told the board and interested individuals after the hearing that his company, as yet, has no signed agreements from any of the stores to locate in the shopping center, but they will pursue as many as 25 to 30 stores, many to be based nationally.  The shopping center is to locate on 148 acres west of Seneca’s corporate limits on rolling grassland and woodland.  The acreage, Smith told the board, will be re-shaped by removing a berm visible from 123.  There are three existing billboards on the property that, he says, will be dismantled and removed when construction begins. The developers are also pursuing state DOT approval of traffic lights at what’ll be the main shopping center entrance.