Harris Teeter adding store

Supermarket will anchor Mount Pleasant shopping center

Harris Teeter plans to build a grocery store in the expanding suburbs of northern Mount Pleasant, bringing the first substantial shopping center to the densely populated area that sprouts from S.C. Highway 41.

The 53,000-square-foot store will be the North Carolina grocery chain's largest in the Charleston area.

"Shoppers have been so receptive to our stores that we're ready to add another location for them," said spokeswoman Jennifer Panetta, who estimates the store will open in early 2010.

The development, named Rivertowne Place, will be built at the corner of Highway 41 and Rivertowne Parkway. Plans filed with the state Department of Health and Environmental Control call for 242 parking spots and two smaller 3,600-square-foot stores.

Developers don't know the types of businesses that will occupy the smaller commercial spaces, said Tom Fox of Greenville-based Fox Capital Partners, which teamed up with Harris Teeter on the development.

Fox added that the shopping center will be certified as environmentally friendly through the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, program.

Panetta said the store will have the usual features — a seafood section, sushi bar, deli — and could include high-end extras such as an olive bar, cheese bar and a Starbucks coffee shop.

Harris Teeter also is building a slightly smaller store in the redeveloping St. Andrews Shopping Center on Savannah Highway. That store is expected to open next fall.