Midlothian Turnpike Retail in 2026: A Corridor Guide for Tenants, Landlords and Buyers

Midlothian Turnpike retail runs along Route 60 in Chesterfield County from the Chippenham Parkway interchange west to Route 288, and the right answer on rent, vacancy and risk depends heavily on which stretch you are looking at. Per Cushman & Wakefield’s Q2 2026 Richmond Retail MarketBeat, NNN asking rents in the three Midlothian submarkets ranged from about $15 to about $28 per SF, and vacancy ran between 5.5% and 7.4% — looser than the 3.6% metro average.

That spread is the opportunity. Older strip centers on the eastern end offer value and redevelopment upside, the Towne Center area is in transition after a mall sale, and the western nodes around Midlothian Village and Route 288 command newer-product rents. Below is how each piece works and what to check before you commit to Midlothian retail space. The Hull Street side of the market has its own dynamics, covered in Hull Street Road retail space.

What does Midlothian retail space lease for in 2026?

The most useful public benchmark is the quarterly Cushman & Wakefield Richmond Retail MarketBeat, produced by Thalhimer. It splits the Route 60 corridor into three submarkets. Rents below are triple-net (NNN) asking rates, meaning the tenant also pays its share of property taxes, insurance and common area maintenance on top of base rent.

Three things stand out. First, the eastern submarket carries the most vacant space and the lowest asking rents, which is what you would expect from a stock of older centers. Second, Midlothian Village prices near the top of the metro. Third, all three Midlothian submarkets posted vacancy well above the metro average, while Short Pump sat under 1% — a meaningful difference if you are a tenant weighing the two (see my Short Pump retail guide).

Treat these as averages. Submarket boundaries are Cushman’s, asking rents are not signed rents, and a single large vacancy can swing a submarket’s rate. A pad site with drive-thru access and a second-generation strip bay a mile apart can differ by more than the submarket spread.

How is the Midlothian Turnpike corridor laid out?

It helps to think of Route 60 as four nodes rather than one road. Each has a different tenant mix, age of product and story for the next five years.

What is happening at Stonebridge and the Chippenham gateway?

The eastern end is where Chesterfield has intervened most directly. The county describes Stonebridge as a public-private partnership that turned the dormant Cloverleaf Mall site into a mixed-use development, and says that success led it to take on a second dead center at Midlothian Turnpike and Chippenham Parkway.

That second site is the 42-acre former Spring Rock Green, which the county’s Economic Development Authority bought in September 2021 and began demolishing in March 2023. Now branded Springline at District 60, its first phase by Collins Enterprises was announced at about $85 million, with 300 residential units and 27,000 SF of commercial space, per Chesterfield County.

Behind Stonebridge, the Starview Village rezoning (approved in early 2020) allows more than 1,000 residential units across 110 acres. In April 2026 Richmond BizSense reported that Greystar had a 14-acre assemblage under contract for a 385-unit apartment complex there.

Why it matters for retail

Rooftops are the leading indicator retailers care about. More than a thousand planned units within a short drive of the older eastern strips changes the daytime and evening population that neighborhood tenants — grocers, quick-service restaurants, fitness, medical and personal services — underwrite. It does not guarantee rent growth, but it is a reason to look harder at the eastern corridor’s lower basis.

What does the Chesterfield Towne Center sale mean for nearby retail?

Chesterfield Towne Center, the roughly 1 million SF mall at 11500 Midlothian Turnpike built in 1976, sold in December 2025 for $80 million. The buyers, JRE Partners and Anastacia AG, also acquired the Ross-anchored Chesterfield Towne Center Plaza and brought in Pacific Retail Capital Partners to run leasing and operations, according to Richmond BizSense. The announcement referenced a potential long-term redevelopment of the 72-acre site. For what has been announced since the sale, see Chesterfield Towne Center redevelopment.

The first visible move after the sale went the other way: TJ Maxx and HomeGoods closed at the mall in February 2026 and reopened in March at Pocono Crossing, a strip center a couple of miles away on Route 60. TJ Maxx took nearly 30,000 SF of a former Burlington space and HomeGoods nearly 25,000 SF.

• For tenants: a mall in repositioning can offer aggressive deals, but ask what the landlord’s master plan means for your space, access and co-tenancy during construction.
• For nearby landlords: big-box relocations like Pocono Crossing show that well-located strip centers can win tenants from the mall, so second-generation boxes near the Towne Center have a real audience.
• For buyers: a large redevelopment next door can lift or depress a neighboring asset. Model both a construction-disruption period and a stabilized scenario.

What about the western end near Route 288 and Westchester Commons?

The western nodes carry newer product. Westchester Commons sits on 128 acres within the Watkins Centre development, with anchors including Target, Regal and Books-A-Million and direct access to Midlothian Turnpike and Route 288 via Watkins Centre Parkway, per its Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer leasing listing. Midlothian West is also where most of the corridor’s new construction sits: 92,507 SF under way in Q2 2026, per the MarketBeat.

Closer to Midlothian Village, SJC Ventures’ Midlothian Depot at Midlothian Turnpike and Alverser Drive is a 13-acre, roughly 87,500 SF commercial project anchored by a 36,000 SF Whole Foods, Chesterfield’s first, alongside 60 for-sale townhomes. Cushman noted in Q2 2026 that most of the metro’s speculative retail construction was centered around this project.

How does Chesterfield zoning affect Midlothian Turnpike retail?

Chesterfield adopted a rewritten zoning ordinance, known as ZOMod, in September 2025, and it took effect January 1, 2026. It consolidated the old districts into fewer categories. The commercial and mixed-use districts are now NB (Neighborhood Business), CC (Corridor Commercial) and MU (Mixed-Use Center), replacing the legacy C-series business districts. Overlay districts, including a Village Overlay, can add standards on top.

Two points matter most for retail deals. Every parcel was converted to its nearest equivalent new district, and the county says conditions approved in prior zoning cases stay in place under the new district name. So a center’s old proffers and use restrictions still apply. The county’s ZOMod conversion map tool shows each parcel’s old and new district and flags prior conditional use cases.

1. 1Look up the parcel’s current district and any conditional use or planned development case on the conversion map.
2. 2Pull the case documents and read the conditions: many older Route 60 centers carry use limits, hours or signage restrictions.
3. 3Confirm your specific use — drive-thru, fitness, medical, restaurant with outdoor seating, auto service — is permitted by right, needs a conditional use, or is barred.
4. 4Ask the Chesterfield Planning Department directly. Staff, not a broker or listing flyer, is the authority on what a parcel allows.

What should tenants know before leasing on Route 60?

Midlothian vacancy above the metro average gives tenants more room to negotiate than in tighter submarkets. Use it on terms that carry real money, not just base rent.

• Access and turning movements: Confirm whether you have a full-movement entrance or a right-in, right-out, and how customers from the opposite direction reach you.
• NNN load: ask for the last two years of actual CAM, tax and insurance reconciliations, and negotiate caps on controllable CAM.
• Co-tenancy and redevelopment clauses: near the Towne Center or any center with a plan in motion, ask about relocation rights, construction access and signage during work.
• Tenant improvement allowance: second-generation space on the eastern end often needs work. Price the build-out before you negotiate rent.
• Signage: pylon panel position and building signage are often limited by old zoning conditions. Get them in the lease.

If you are also weighing other submarkets, my services overview explains how I approach tenant representation, and current availabilities are on the listings page.

What should landlords and buyers look for on the corridor?

Investor interest in Richmond retail is active. Cushman reported more than $223 million in metro retail sales volume in the first half of 2026. On Route 60 specifically, the recurring themes are older centers with repositioning upside and outparcels carved from larger sites.

Older strip centers and repositioning

Many eastern-corridor centers are older, second-generation product. The questions are the usual ones — roof, parking lot, HVAC age, anchor lease term — plus whether the zoning and existing conditions allow a different use mix. The county’s own redevelopment of Spring Rock Green shows that obsolete centers here can be rethought as mixed-use, but that took public land assembly and a long timeline.

Outparcels and pad sites

Outparcels along Route 60 attract quick-service restaurants, banks, coffee and medical users. Before pricing one, confirm cross-access and shared parking easements, any restrictions in the parent center’s declaration (exclusives and prohibited uses), drive-thru stacking requirements, and utility capacity. Ground leases are common, so compare the value to a buyer of a ground lease versus a fee sale. My guide to Richmond net lease investment properties covers how single-tenant pads are valued.

Working with a broker on your Midlothian search

Route 60 rewards local, parcel-level homework: which strip has a flexible REA, which node has the access your concept needs, and which asking rent is really a starting point. I help tenants, landlords and investors sort through those questions and build a short list that fits the budget and the use.

If you are considering Midlothian Turnpike retail space or a center on the corridor, reach out and we can talk through your requirements. For land plays farther out Route 288 and Hull Street, see my Chesterfield commercial land guide.