Wildwood Crossings - Project Description

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The final three retail stores have been contracted by the new 145,000-square-foot Wildwood Crossings development in western Jefferson City. A Chili's Grill and Bar restaurant will be built on the front side of the center along Missouri Boulevard, developers say.

Larry Kolb, managing partner for the development, said Chili's is under contract to purchase a front lot in Wildwood Crossings and the national restaurant chain plans to open in the fall.

The last three stores scheduled to open in the center this summer are two major off-price, name-brand clothing stores, TJ Maxx and Goody's, and PETCO, a pet products and services store.

Chili's has a restaurant in Columbia in the shopping center near Staples in front of Sam's Club.

Chili's will build a 5,555 square foot store that will seat 200 people. Kolb said "closing is set for not later than June 1 but everything has moved along so well they anticipate closing and beginning construction right away."

One more national restaurant chain at Wildwood Crossings will be announced later.

T.J. Maxx and Goody's will occupy 60,000 square feet of space in the center. Each store will have 30,000 square feet on each side of the existing MC Sports store, which was one of the first stores to open in the center.

TJ Maxx will be located immediately east of MC Sports. T.J. Maxx plans to open for business in mid-summer. The interior shell is up and construction should be able to move forward quickly because weather should be improving soon, Kolb said.

With more than 700 stores, T.J. Maxx is the largest off-price apparel retailer in the United States, offering name brand and designer fashions for less.

Goody's will be located in the center west of MC Sports. Steel is going up for this addition. "Hopefully, we will be able to get it under roof without many delays and we'll turn the store over to them to complete their interior by July 15. They plan to be open prior to the school year," says Gary Oberkrom of Dick Otke Construction Co.

Goody's has more than 12,000 employees in stores scattered around the United States in the Southeast, Southwest and Midwest.

PETCO will occupy 12,540 square feet in Wildwood Crossings. It will be located between Pier 1, which is now open, and Shoe Carnival, which is under construction and announced previously.

The shell for PETCO is already up and it is ready to be finished. PETCO plans to open in early summer at Wildwood Crossings.

PETCO operates 600 pet stores in 43 states. It offers more than 10,000 high-quality, pet-related products and pet services, including grooming, obedience training, vaccination clinics and photography.

PETCO is a public company that trades on Nasdaq under the symbol of PETC.

Kolb said during the rest of the winter and all of spring and early summer there will be an abundance of construction activity at Wildwood Crossings.

Shoe Carnival is scheduled to open in March. Barnes and Noble is nearing the interior construction stage. "We will turn over the building to them to finish the interior on March 15," Kolb said.

An expanded version of this article appears in the Feb. 1, 2003, issue of The Jefferson City Post-Tribune newspaper.