Computer rendering of the proposed Target store potentially coming to Riverbirch Shopping Center in west Sanford. Rendering (which is subject to change) provided to The Rant by Casto, which purchased Riverbirch Corner in in 2022. 

By Gordon Anderson
gordon@rantnc.com

Without a doubt, the No. 1 question with regards to retail among the general population in Lee County for more than a decade has been some variation of “when are we getting a Target?”

Now, we know the answer appears to be sometime in 2027.

After months of rumors (and years of speculation) about a major retailer looking to locate in the area, the news came in a fairly rapid series of bursts. On Sept. 3, we learned that commercial real estate developer CASTO, which purchased Riverbirch Corner in west Sanford in 2022, had submitted plans to the city-county Planning Department’s Technical Review Committee which call for a near-complete demolition of the shopping center and a total redevelopment of the site that would be centered around a Target store if undertaken.

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That news was positive, but by itself not necessarily indicative of action. CASTO had submitted ambitious plans for Riverbirch before (they didn’t name any specific retailers), and submission of plans to TRC doesn’t necessarily mean a given project will go forward. TRC is a group of public stakeholders — think fire, police, utilities, etc. — who review proposals to make sure they meet all applicable codes and standards. Are there enough entrances and exits? How will water and power get to the site? What kind of response time can be expected in the event of an emergency? That sort of thing.

But paired with CASTO’s submission was another piece of information that caught eyes all over Sanford and beyond — the Ohio-based developer was asking the city of Sanford for an economic incentive of up to $4.4 million to help fund the development, and had promised a Target and a “new to market grocery store” at the site. Incentives of this type require the city council to hold a public hearing, and a notice of the public hearing that contained the Target language went out the same day CASTO’s submission to TRC became public.

More dominoes fell after that. About a week later, it became public that the Lee County Board of Commissioners was considering adding up to $2 million to the deal that would help fund water and sewer upgrades at the site. That board voted 4-3 on Sept. 15 to enter the deal, and the City Council voted 6-0 the following night to approve the incentive package.

From the local government side of things, the deal was done — upon completion and opening of the Target and the unnamed grocery store, $6.4 million in exchange for a total rehabilitation of the aging Riverbirch shopping center, which opened in the 1980s and served as both a community center and a gateway into west Sanford off U.S. 1 for decades, but had fallen into severe disrepair in the past several years.

CASTO’s proposed renovation of Riverbirch Corner, which would include a Target (left), various retail stores and restaurants, and a grocery store (right). The numbers 2 and 3 are represented in renderings below.

What comes back?

So what do Sanford and Lee County get in return for their $6.4 million?

To start with, the Sanford Area Growth Alliance (SAGA) and others involved in the deal estimate the cost of CASTO’s redevelopment at more than $60 million. Between Target, the new grocer and whatever other retailers occupy the remainder of the new Riverbirch footprint, it’s estimated to generate upward of $100 million in annual sales, meaning between property taxes and sales taxes the project could generate as much as $3 million in local tax revenue.

SAGA and city government in particular have touted those numbers as the process played out, but they only paint a part of the picture. A Triangle Business Journal story from March of this year titled “The Target Effect” discusses the ripples caused by Target’s decision to locate in a given community, using nearby areas like Southern Pines and Selma.

“What started as Moore County’s first Target has exploded into many other ‘firsts’ for the area,” that story reads. “The first Whataburger. The first Chicken Salad Chick. The first BJ’s Wholesale Club. All of the stores have either opened, or will open soon, in Morganton Park South. And it’s safe to say Target spurred on those investments.”

So instead of focusing only on the Riverbirch footprint, draw a one-mile radius circle around the shopping center and consider that the only area included which could reasonably support any commercial development is North Horner Boulevard — currently home to a long-vacant grocery store, some industrial activity, a handful of restaurants and motels, and a bunch of vacant land. Imagining the other upscale retailers which could be enticed by Target’s location at Riverbirch (the TBJ store calls them “parasite stores,” not derisively, but to identify them as “smaller stores who basically don’t have to do anything to attract the shopper or the consumer … because they’re attracted by Target”) reasonably opens the door to imagining added returns on that $6.4 million public investment.

The decline of Riverbirch

To the public eye, the process appears to have unfolded pretty fast. But behind the scenes, CASTO and local leaders in the government and economic development sectors have been working to make this or something like it happen at least since 2022.

Riverbirch’s decline has been no secret to anyone paying attention. The Rant’s earliest coverage of the issue came in 2017, when the shopping center was listed as a foreclosure property up for auction. It sold that year, but the new owners weren’t exactly attentive, and the decline exacerbated with tenants leaving and city-issued $250-per-day civil violations for bad lighting, potholes and uncut grass began piling up. 

 In August 2020, this publication spent several thousand words detailing “The Slow Demise of Riverbirch” complete with photos of puddle-filled potholes, empty storefronts and even those working in the few remaining parcels of occupied space.

CASTO arrived on the scene a couple years later, purchasing the center in November 2022, and while big changes weren’t immediately visible, the hope for better things loomed large. CASTO is a private company with commercial developments across the country, and a look at their portfolio then and now reveals a company with a deep connection to Target and other national retailers.

Computer renderings provided by CASTO (subject to change … so don’t expect a “Kipotle”) show what retail and restaurants could look like if Target was to move forward with building a store in Riverbirch Corner in west Sanford. The area would also see new restaurants, new stores and a new grocery store and gas station, according to plans.

Behind the scenes: Conversations that never stopped

Jimmy Randolph, SAGA’s CEO, said local leaders knew from the time of CASTO’s purchase that there were “extraordinary costs” associated with any potential redevelopment of Riverbirch when they acquired the property in 2022, but there was hope from the start that some kind of deal could be struck that would give everyone involved a win.

“They’ve done economic development projects in other states, where there are different laws about incentives,” Randolph said. “They’re not apples-to-apples comparisons, but the conversations kept happening. What it really came down to was eliminating a blight on that part of Sanford, and the prospect of replacing it with something that adds value.”

CASTO’s first stab at adding value came in August 2023, when it submitted a proposal to TRC that would have transformed Riverbirch into a mixed-use development with both commercial and residential space. That proposal would have required additional entrance and exit ways due to the residential component, requirements that proved too costly to pursue. 

Additionally, the residential component created another issue with regards to the expectation that CASTO would need an incentive to move forward — for all the activity in Sanford and Lee County on the part of residential development companies in recent years, there’s not one that’s asked for an incentive, and even opening talks to that effect would create a sticky precedent. Why incentivize with public money something that’s already happening in spades without it?

It wasn’t until December of last year that the public heard more. At a meeting of the Lee County Board of Commissioners that month, local GOP Chairman Jim Womack urged commissioners — in the face of “rumors” that “some kind of anchor store … is going to be coming to the Riverbirch area” — to reject any kind of public funding for such a deal, arguing in words that may have hinted at the specifics of the rumor that any retailer locating in Sanford would do so “with or without a targeted financial incentive.”

Meanwhile, CASTO’s conversations with Randolph and SAGA continued. And although the talks nearly fell apart on multiple occasions, they never stopped.

At one point, CASTO asked Randolph to have a conversation directly with Target representatives, a conversation which apparently took place to underscore to Randolph and by extension the rest of the local government stakeholders just how serious Target was about locating a store in Sanford. And although plenty of daylight still existed between the sides at that point, by late summer the outline of a deal was in place and the only remaining hurdle was for the politicians atop the local government infrastructure to cast their votes.

Why this deal was different

That doesn’t answer all questions about incentives though, and some critics have been correct in noting that retail incentives have never been a part of the strategy employed by SAGA and local government bodies in attracting businesses. Instead, they’ve typically lured larger manufacturers who then get a refund for a set period of some portion of the property taxes they pay.

Randolph acknowledges the situation with CASTO and Target is different. But he argues it’s so unique that it’s extremely unlikely to be repeated.

“This isn’t about going to the next parcel of farmland outside the city limits and building another highway commercial project that’s going to happen anyway,” he said. “There’s no need for any public assistance for something like that,” he said. “The truth is there’s not a developer out there that can pencil out a profitable plan to redevelop Riverbirch, and in all our conversations this has always been about redeveloping a blighted center.”

John Crumpton was Lee County manager when discussions about the potential for a cash incentive surrounding a Riverbirch redevelopment began (he’s since retired). At the time, he was staunchly opposed to any such deal — it violated county policy that incentives be limited to manufacturing, and wages for jobs generated by retail operations typically fall beneath the county’s average wage. Additionally, despite calls from the public for more retail options, it’s not like Sanford and Lee County are retail deserts. But community development grants are separate mechanism from incentives for attracting business, and Crumpton said “it became clear the Riverbirch project would fit within the community development stature better than economic development” because community development involves mostly infrastructure grants and projects to address areas that are in disrepair and need to be upgraded.”

“Local Government not only can help the property itself become more valuable, but the areas around the project area also benefit from the improvements,” he told The Rant. “Property values in the community go up as the property becomes more valuable. Inducements in infrastructure such as roads, water, sewer, stormwater control, and internet service, help the developers with their project, but also helps the surrounding areas that can use these improvements. Within the County’s economic development policy, infrastructure is part of the inducements there as well. The City is well positioned to handle the infrastructure improvements since they control most of the essential utilities. Helping the City with those costs is not unprecedented for the County.”

It seems at least some of the politicians shared a skepticism of either an incentive or any kind of community development grant. Three of the county Board of Commissioners’ Republican majority — Chairman Kirk Smith, Commissioner Andre Knecht and Commissioner Samantha Martin — voted against the deal. Republican Commissioner Taylor Vorbeck joined Democrats Mark Lovick, Robert Reives Sr. and Cameron Sharpe in voting yes. At Sanford City Hall, Republican Councilman Charles Taylor wasn’t present for the incentive vote, but the council’s six remaining Democrats voted unanimously for its passage.

CASTO partnered with the city of Snellville, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta, for a reimagined city center that featured nine new buildings, a central park and large parking deck. The Grove at Towne Center was completed this spring.

‘Drawn to this type of project’

Shannon Dixon is CASTO’s executive vice president of development and leasing, and has lived in central North Carolina for nearly 40 years. She said the company has been interested in Riverbirch for some time.

“I remember driving by it in the 80s and 90s and thinking this was just the best retail,” she said. “When that went into decline it was disappointing for everyone. But CASTO has kind of been drawn to this type of project – historic areas where there are opportunities for revitalization. It’s an established location and can serve Sanford and the surrounding areas.”Dixon said the company plans to break ground on the redevelopment in the spring of 2026 with an eye toward opening in the fall of 2027 if all goes according to plan. The plans filed with TRC show the development would be anchored by a 128,000 square foot commercial space where the shopping center backs up to U.S. Highway 1, as well as a new 53,000 square foot building near the location of Riverbirch’s current Belk men’s store (formerly Winn-Dixie). The building that currently houses Belk’s back half — commonly known as the women’s Belk — is one of the only structures currently part of Riverbirch that wouldn’t be demolished (a 900 square foot building at the edge of the property on Spring Lane would also remain). The plans show six other new commercial spaces, as well as a new secondary exit from the property onto Spring Lane just east of the existing entrance.

Dixon said CASTO is “still in the process of working on the tenant mix,” so even though one of Belk’s buildings will remain, it’s not a guarantee that Belk itself will stay (it’s not a guarantee that Belk is gone either – as Dixon said, the “tenant mix” is still up in the air). She added that whoever ends up on the roster, local shoppers should be happy.

“CASTO is a 99-year-old family company with a long term philosophy of holding properties long term,” she said. “We have better flexibility as a private company in terms of picking out the right tenants and not signing them just to sign them. You work with and develop relationships with your tenants that way.”

Now, with all the pieces in place, CASTO has five years to complete the project. If a Target and a “new to market” grocery store aren’t open by that time, the deal is void. Sanford Mayor Rebecca Wyhof Salmon is confident that won’t happen.

“The Riverbirch redevelopment is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform a key corridor of Sanford. With more than $60 million in proposed private investment, it sends a clear signal to retailers and investors that Sanford is on the map,” she said. “Together, we are turning a declining property into a vibrant destination. The return on investment will be measured not just in dollars, but in renewed energy and momentum for our entire community.”