While City Manager Tim Bolduc told the council that Benchmark officials still are not ready to announce the tenants of the Commons, he noted that major clearing work recently began.
Several retaining walls and almost 250,000 cubic yards of fill dirt will be added to the property as part of the initial phase of site work, and building pads are expected to be in place by early next year, according to information from Benchmark.
A national grocery store and a “very popular” sit-down restaurant, each situated on an outparcel close to SR 85, could open in late 2022 and five in-line retail stores, located farther west, could open in early 2023. Benchmark still is in discussions for the third outparcel user.
CRESTVIEW In and next to Crestview, which already is Okaloosa County s largest and most-populated city, several subdivisions containing a total of more than 2,000 single-family homes are either being built or are in the late planning stages.
Many of the residents of all of those new houses will, of course, add to the traffic congestion on already busy roads such as State Road 85.
While the developers of some of the new subdivisions plan to upgrade streets next to their projects, far greater traffic relief is expected to come via the ongoing southwest Crestview bypass work and the planned widening of a long segment of SR 85.
CRESTVIEW The Crestview Commons mixed-use development is expected to open in the spring of 2022.
City Manager Tim Bolduc shared that information with the City Council on Monday while providing an update on the project.
The Benchmark Group of Amherst, New York, is the developer of the estimated $14 million project. The company’s plans include the development of about 73,000 square feet of inline retail space plus two national sit-down restaurant chains northwest of State Road 85 (Ferdon Boulevard) and Interstate 10.
The project site is part of an almost 22-acre area bounded by S.R. 85 to the east, the old Golden Asian Buffet restaurant near Hospital Drive to the north, Price-Gregory Way to the west and Mirage Avenue, Chick-fil-A and vacant land to the south.