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The recession is doing nothing to stall development of the sprawling Whitehall project off Interstate 485.
Charlotte planners, however think it's time for Crosland Group to slow the expansion of the retail centerpiece of the 700-acre mixed-use community on South Tryon Street.
Crosland, which just this week landed a 200,000-square-foot Wal-Mart Supercenter - Charlotte's first - for Whitehall Commons, had sought approval to expand the burgeoning enclave of shops, apartments and businesses by more than 85,000 square feet.
"We were not going to recommend the additional outparcel retail square footage says John Cock, principal planner at the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Planning Commission. "We think that's too much for that interchange."
Too much traffic and too much of a strain there at I-485, he adds.
"If the outer loop is to function effectively as a transportation facility, then it doesn't need to have shopping centers at every interchange," Cock says. "The point is not to get people from one shopping center to another. People need to have some mobility around the region."
Crosland officials have asked to defer any decision on the additional square footage.
"I guess they got the inclination we were not going to give it a thumbs up," Cock says. "We are willing to talk about some development up along Arrowood that could be more office in nature."
Whatever the outcome on the proposal, Crosland remains bullish for Whitehall, a dominant project in the last undeveloped frontier in Mecklenburg County.
"I would say...