Phase 2 on the way

The dust has hardly settled on the area's newest shopping center, and developers are already working on expansion plans.

Construction on another phase of shops at The Market Common should start before the year is out, said Dan McCaffery, president of the project's developer McCaffery Interests.

The second phase will add about 40 to 50 percent more retail space on a 21-acre tract across Phillis Boulevard from Barnes & Noble and Piggly Wiggly. A hotel could also go there, he said.

That phase would likely take a few years to build, he said.

The Market Common's project manager Buddy Styers said that land is zoned for urban village development, but developers are still drawing up plans so it's too soon to say exactly what will go there.

"There are a lot of options and opportunities," he said. "It could look a lot like The Market Common. It could be retail. It depends. I wouldn't say what they might do with it."