Joe Deerin's eyes and ears tell him why two new projects here will thrive.

He sees few vacant stores in the Lancaster area.

And he hears plenty of retailers say they want to move here.

That evidence bodes well for the latest retail and office projects being developed in Manheim Township:

n Bloomfield Village, a $12.5 million neighborhood shopping center and office complex just off Lititz Pike, due to open this fall.

n The Shoppes at Manheim Pike, a $5.3 million retail building near Chelsea Square, also set to open this fall.

The projects by Lancaster-based Blackford Development Ltd. will fill two of the few remaining undeveloped parcels along those busy roadways in the steadily growing township.

"There's a demand, due to the locations," said Deerin, who heads the leasing efforts for the new properties.

Both projects will complement existing businesses in the area, not compete with them, and will offer convenient services to the growing number of residents and workers in the area, said Deerin.

As part of that convenience, he added, both sites are served by signalized intersections.

According to Deerin, the two projects will help solve a shortage of available commercial space here. Retailers, he said, want to come here because it's a growing, prosperous community.

"If there were vacancies all over Lancaster County, we wouldn't be developing (these projects), because someone could go there cheaper," he explained.

Deerin is president of LMS Commercial Real Estate, which is leasing space in the two projects. He also is president of Property Management Alternatives Inc., which will run them.

Bloomfield Village will consist of a pair of buildings on Bloomfield Drive, immediately behind the Bloomfield Square Restaurant.

Construction of the 55,900-square-foot complex is due to begin by the end of this month.

The site, eyed in the early 1990s as a supermarket location by an earlier developer, is opposite Brethren Village, which is planning to double in size with a $90 million expansion, and diagonally across from Lancaster Airport.

A one-story building will have 18,100 square feet of space; a two-story building will have a first floor of 19,800 square feet and a second floor of 18,000 square feet.

About 20 to 25 retail and office tenants will occupy Bloomfield Village, estimated Deerin.

The businesses will include stores, a restaurant and service providers such as a hair salon, dentist, tax preparer, dry cleaner and the like.

"People want a one-stop shop," said Deerin. "They don't want to have to go from one side of town to another."

The Shoppes at Manheim Pike will consist of a one-story building at the  Lausch Lane intersection.

The 7,500-square-foot building, well under way, will have a 6,000-square-foot apparel store and a second store of 1,500 square feet.

In addition, Blackford has township approval to build a branch bank of 4,000 square feet on the property.

The site is next to the recently opened headquarters of Union National Community Bank, which Blackford also developed.

CONTACT US: tmekeel@LNPnews.com or 481-6030