By Nicholas Langhorne
special correspondent

Bon Secours Richmond Health System has big plans for the area around St. Francis Medical Center, located at Charter Colony Parkway. The future development could become a huge economic driver for the entire region.

“The whole point of this is to make it a destination,” said Tommy Ladd, a project manager with Odell Associates and a member of the design team.

A week-long planning session, known as a Charrette, was held to bring together Bon Secours officials, interested community members, architects and Chesterfield County officials. The design team was led by Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, a well-known proponent of the “new urbanism” movement and one of the founders of Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company.

The 130-acre site, known as CenterPointe, is to be anchored by the hospital. The proposed plan is for the site to eventually become a town center development.

New urbanism shuns the traditional suburban model of large tracts of single-family housing and separate commercial areas, which encourages sprawl and traffic congestion. Town centers are developed like mini-cities, combining higher-density commercial and residential zones in pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods.

The design team’s vision of the development includes parking garages replacing the current parking lots and office, medical and apartment buildings that are going to look like authentic buildings in a city, not like the typical suburban development that’s common in the area, something that Plater-Zyberk says will help them hold value, a positive in today’s real estate market.

“So it’s not just aesthetics,” she said.

The reaction of the dozens of people at the Charrette’s closing session at the Country Club of Virginia on Friday, Jan. 16, was generally positive.

“It was very well done,” said Andrew Lawler, Vice President of Healthcare for Lauth Property Group. “It’s a much nicer layout of the campus for the long term.”

One issue that was brought up at the closing ceremony was the lack of planning for future light-rail or other mass transportation in the area.Today, the surrounding area is low-density and suburban, but a future regional mass transportation system could be integrated into the development’s pedestrian-friendly layout, according to planners.

“The hope is that this becomes a catalyst for other developments around the county to have a connection with the surroundings,” said Tommy Ladd, a project manager with Odell Associates and a member of the design team.

The architects working on the project considered the ongoing economic recession. However, Plater-Zyberk didn’t feel that it would be a huge factor in the site’s development. The stability of the hospital and its associated facilities are expected to be relatively independent of market conditions.

Thomas Winfree, president & CEO of Village Bank, said that he was “excited” about the development and its close proximity to the Watkins Centre and Roseland, which will help keep Chesterfield’s “economic development juices” flowing and will help the county’s tax base compete with Henrico.

“It’s very much needed,” he said. “It’s essential for the economic viability of Chesterfield County.”

Joyce Lanier, a member of St. Francis’ Community Advisory Board and principal of Evergreen Elementary School, attended several of the meetings during the Charrette.

“I think it will be wonderful for the Midlothian community and for the region in general,” she said. “I love the whole mixed-use concept and the architectural design is excellent.”

There was no visible opposition to the project at the closing ceremony, however, Bon Secours CEO Peter Bernard stressed that there would be another 30 to 45 days before the project was finalized.

“I would actually be surprised if anyone looked at those final drawings for what the future will look like, that they would have any opposition to it,” Lanier said.

Click here for details on a follow-up article in the Sunday’s Jan. 25, 2009 edition.