Major shopping center proposed for south Crestview

This wooded site on the corner of Live Oak Church Road and State Road 85, stretching almost a quarter-mile north, is the planned location for Crestview Narrows, a 37-acre shopping center with three anchor stores.

CRESTVIEW — The Live Oak Church Road-State Road 85 intersection in south Crestview could be much busier if a proposed 37-acre shopping center opens.

Click here to see the site plan

The Crestview Narrows center, proposed by Birmingham, Alabama-based Blackwater Resources, would have 184,600 square feet of retail space including:

●A 22,000-square-foot and 55,000-square-foot anchor store

●A free-standing 45,600-square-foot anchor store

●A 6,000-square-foot section that could contain up to five 1,200-square-foot shops

●Three 8,000-square-foot stores

●Two 10,000-square-foot stores

●One 12,000-square-foot-store

The project would extend more than a quarter-mile along S.R. 85, and includes 840 parking spaces, plus five undeveloped “future outparcels” available for lease to builders and retailers.

A Crestview Narrows marketing flier states 35,000 vehicle trips per day pass the development’s site, which is located outside Crestview city limits in Okaloosa County.

Access points would include an entrance drive off Live Oak Church Road and three entrances from State Road 85, including one each across from Lee Chrysler and Southview Drive that cross the highway median.

A right-turn lane is indicated north of the Live Oak Church-S.R. 85 intersection. Blackwater Resources proposes adding a traffic signal at the development entrance opposite Lee Chrysler.

County Growth Management Department planner Tim Durbin in the department’s Crestview office said the project’s development order has been reviewed and is close to being approved. “We’re waiting for documents to come in from other agencies,” he said. “It’s close.”

Durbin said how soon construction begins is up to the developer and their contractor.

Blackwater development director and President John Abernathy said the project is still in the proposal and marketing phase. He said the company is not ready to provide information about potential tenants nor a construction timeline.

“We don’t have a break-ground date yet,” Abernathy said. “We’re marketing it right now. It is still a proposal.”

Birmingham, Ala.-based Blackwater Resources, which proposes a 37-acre shopping center in southeast Crestview, was formed in 2010 by former AIG Baker Shopping Center Properties L.L.C. executives. During their real estate careers, Blackwater Resources executives developed, leased and managed more than 25 million square feet of property in 36 states. In Florida, the company owns Shoreline Village in Destin, The Center of Tallahassee and Mitchell Ranch Plaza in New Port Richey.

Source: Blackwater Resources

THE DEVELOPER

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Major shopping center proposed for south Crestview