Food Lion finally might be ready to pounce on Lancaster County.

The supermarket chain apparently intends to anchor a small mall being proposed at Routes 283 and 743.

The site is in Mount Joy Township, just outside Elizabethtown Borough.

Fifteen years ago, Food Lion looked closely at Warwick and East Hempfield townships but never opened there.

Now, developer JDH Capital of Charlotte, N.C., has indicated that the chain would be the biggest tenant in its proposed Elizabethtown Crossing shopping center.

The shopping center would be built on the southeast corner of the interchange.

Food Lion is depicted both on a project sketch plan that JDH Capital has shown to the township and on the developer's Web site page about the 21-acre shopping center.

"Food Lion's beautiful new prototypical store" would occupy 35,000 square feet of the 62,500-square-foot center, according to the JDH Capital Web site page.

A CVS drug store also would open at the site. Three outparcels could be developed for a hotel, convenience store and restaurant.

In addition to the new stores, the project also would involve extending Buckingham Boulevard (formerly Radio Road) from Mount Gretna Road to Route 743.

JDH Capital development partner Susan Bourgeois today declined to confirm Food Lion would anchor the center, saying JDH Capital did not have a signed lease with the chain.

Food Lion spokeswoman Jennifer Speck echoed that the company does not have a signed lease for a store there. She added the company would only comment on a future store if it did.

Bourgeois said her company is attracted to the site because "it's a regional location with a neighborhood feel. It's right next to 283, but tied into the neighborhood with 743.

"It's a market that's underserved by retail," she added.

Bourgeois declined to estimate a timetable for construction of the center or estimate its cost, although centers of similar size in the county have cost more than $10 million to develop.

Township administrator Casey Kraus said today that, depending on the pace of township and PennDOT approvals, JDH Capital could break ground on the venture in the second half of this year.

"We're looking forward to working with JDH to get something good there," said Kraus, adding that the extension of Buckingham Boulevard has been favored by the township and borough for at least 25 years.

The administrator said JDH already has met with PennDOT to start the process of obtaining a highway occupancy permit.

He expects JDH to submit a preliminary land development plan to the township, in time to go before the township planners at their 7 p.m. March 23 meeting.

"They're moving. If this doesn't happen, it'll surprise me. They sound extremely serious," said Kraus.

The developer would pay for the extension of Buckingham Boulevard that runs across its property, according to the township. Funding for the rest of the extension would come from a variety of sources.

Food Lion, based in Salisbury, N.C., has 1,300 stores in 11 states, including units in York, Hanover and Chambersburg.

Food Lion has looked hard at Lancaster County before.

In 1994, a sketch plan was approved for a Food Lion in the Wynfield Business Center on Route 501; in 1995, a developer said Food Lion was coming to Rohrerstown Road in East Hempfield Township.

But neither store came to pass.

JDH Capital develops open-air neighborhood shopping centers in eight states, from Pennsylvania to Florida. In southcentral Pennsylvania, JDH Capital also has projects in Harrisburg, York, Lebanon and Gettysburg.


Staff writer Tim Mekeel can be reached at tmekeel@LNPnews.com or 481-6030.