The Leonardtown Planning Commission Monday re-approved two concept plans for projects that have been around for quite some time. McIntosh Run Shopping Center concept plan was originally approved in 2005 and the Southern Maryland Electric Co-op (SMECO) regional office expansion was approved in 2008.
McIntosh Run Shopping Center would be on the property of the former Pennie’s Bar and ball field to the rear. Wayne Davis of W.M. Davis Construction said the project stalled because of the economy. He said he hoped to start work on the center next year and had several potential tenants.
When asked if the plan might change when it came in for final site plan approval, Davis admitted that it might. The plan includes a 44,400 square-foot, 60-room hotel. Davis said financing for such a project is difficult in today’s lending atmosphere and it might be scrapped. The plan also includes an 11,000 square-foot office building, a 30,015 square-foot retail center, a 3,000 square-foot stand-alone restaurant and a 2,700 square-foot bank.
Davis told the planners that Leonardtown proper is too small to attract major tenants but that is offset by a high traffic count going past the site on Point Lookout Road. He also said that he had hoped the state’s plans for reconstructing Point Lookout Road would be farther along than now. The exact plan still has not been approved and there are no construction monies in the six-year plan.
The county commissioners were told in a letter last week that a suggestion that part of the road improvements, from Route 5 to Abell/Moakley streets be built first is under consideration once the final plans are developed.
SMECO Engineer Tom Russell told the town planners that the regional office project got delayed because of other co-op projects. He said the building design would be more in keeping with the neo-classical theme of the town. He called the existing structure yellow brick “a pig. We can put lipstick on it but it is still a pig.” Planning Commission Vice Chairman Jack Candella, who was running Monday’s meeting in the chair’s absence, thanked Russell for making changes he had encouraged in the original 2008 concept plan approval.
Russell said the co-op also intends to build a sidewalk in front of the property on Hollywood Road. He also said it would be LEED certified. Russell said he expected construction to commence in either the third or fourth quarter of 2013.
The commission also gave final site plan approval for the new Cedar Point Federal Credit Union location on Merchant’s Lane in the Shoppes at Breton Bay. The approval came after the plan was changed to address some concerns from the commission at their April meeting. Construction is expected to begin immediately
