Q: What’s going on at the intersection of South Main Street and Spring Valley Road with the clearing of that property? Is a new business coming in?

A parcel of land at the corner of Spring Valley Road and South Main Street in Farmville that was previously owned by the late Charles R. Shorter is being cleared as its owner makes it attractive for prospective retail businesses.

Farmville Town Manager Gerald Spates confirmed the owner is looking to get a business to locate there.

“There’s really nothing planned for that property right now,” Spates said.

The land is being sold by realtors Brian Bock and June Smith of Taylor Long Properties.

According to the Taylor Long Properties’ website, the parcel includes 1.566 acres of land and is zoned commercial.

The property sits across the street from a soon-to-be Hilton Hotel, which is currently under construction and slated for completion in October.

Bock said he’s spoken with retailers, but they’ve either put things on hold to see how the market plays out or found another location that suits them better.

“The owner had it for a few years; he basically was interested in taking it and turning it and selling it. He was never really interested in developing it,” Bock said. “We’ve got it in the market for sale or for ground lease.”

Bock said the best use for the land would be along the lines of a retail business or some type of office.

“The hotel across the street had additional dirt they needed to remove from the property, and what (the owner) did is he worked a deal out to have the dirt removed and moved to his property to raise the grade to make it level with the road,” Bock said.

He said retailers like to be at the same grade or higher of the actual roadway so that they have greater visibility.

Bock said the owner has raised the area to have a higher-grade parcel that slopes in the back. 

“We think it would be a great piece for a fast food user, quick service user along with a destination kind of office, veterinarian office, tax, CPA — something of that nature where visibility would be good, would be wanted, but isn’t 100 percent necessary,” Bock said.

Bock said he didn’t see it being a retail center because of the width of the lot.

“We have a much more positive outlook on it now with the grade being raised to Main Street level,” Bock said.