At Midlothian Depot, the new center at Midlothian Turnpike and Alverser Drive, one business is open so far: a sandwich shop with a patio and a bar. The Whole Foods next to it, the first one planned for Chesterfield County, has no announced opening date. The center's new management company says the overall rollout will continue into 2027.
For anyone in Smoketree, off North Courthouse Road, that changes what to expect. The changes reaching the Turnpike corridor this fall are mostly restaurants and small shops, not a grocery store. Most of them are moving into storefronts that already had a sign over the door. Midlothian Depot is the one brand-new place in the mix, and it is filling in one tenant at a time.
One Open Door on Steam Avenue
Cheba Hut was the first to open, at 1124 Steam Ave. Axios Richmond reported that the Colorado-based chain would open its first Virginia location on Friday, September 25, with a bar, a patio and a Virginia-themed mural. The menu has more than 30 toasted subs in three sizes. Axios put the smallest at around $6.99 and the largest at about $15. The 12-tap bar pours local beer. According to Axios, it's open daily for lunch and dinner, and the chain's location page lists the Steam Avenue address with hours and online ordering.
Steam Avenue is an internal street. The project fronts the Turnpike at Alverser Drive, and Richmond BizSense lists its address as 11703 Midlothian Turnpike. Before construction, the 13-acre site was mostly woods, with three buildings facing the Turnpike. Atlanta-based SJC Ventures bought the land in January 2025 for $16 million. An earlier plan called for 350 apartments and a parking garage. The current plan pairs about 87,500 square feet of retail with 60 for-sale townhomes.
Who Else Has Signed On, and Where Each Stands
The tenant list is long, but most of the names are at different stages. Here's where each one stood as of mid-October 2026, based on the most recent reporting:
- Open: Cheba Hut, 1124 Steam Ave.
- Buildout permits issued: Paris Baguette at 1100 Steam Ave. got a mechanical permit dated September 24. Pure Green, the smoothie shop, got a tenant-upfit permit for 1120 Steam Ave. dated September 14. BizSense printed both in its October 14 permit roundup.
- Confirmed tenants, no opening date: J.Crew, Dave's Hot Chicken, Warby Parker, Lovesac and Whole Foods Market, according to an August 3 report in Shopping Center Business.
- Named in March, not confirmed since: BizSense's March 2 project snapshot also listed Petfolk, a veterinary clinic; VIO, a med spa; Gloss Nails; Blue Fish Grill; and Turning Point. Warby Parker took a space that had been planned for MyEyeDr.
- No longer part of the project: Cooper's Hawk Winery & Restaurant, which left after a legal dispute with the developer that has since been settled.
Food and drink lead the way. The one open business is a restaurant, and so are the two with the newest permits. Retail names like J.Crew and Lovesac have been confirmed for months, but no opening dates have been reported for them yet.
The Whole Foods Question
Every few weeks, someone asks when the grocery store opens. Here's what has been reported so far:
- January 2025: SJC Ventures buys the 13-acre site.
- Early February 2026: SJC principal Jeff Garrison tells BizSense the shells are nearly complete and spaces will go to tenants that spring. He says the first businesses could open "this fall at the earliest" and that the Whole Foods opening date is unclear. A Whole Foods spokesperson declined to comment.
- February 2026: The county issues Whole Foods a tenant-upfit permit for the interior buildout of its 36,000-square-foot store.
- August 3, 2026: KeyPoint Partners is announced as the property manager. The release says the first tenants and the anchor "are projected to begin opening in the fall," with the full rollout continuing into 2027.
- Mid-October 2026: Cheba Hut is open. Whole Foods still has no public opening date.
"Projected to begin opening in the fall" doesn't promise a grocery store this fall. It says the openings start in the fall, and the same release says the last of them will come in 2027. Until Whole Foods announces a date, nobody should count on it for holiday shopping.
Most of the Turnpike's New Openings Are in Old Storefronts
Away from the Depot, the changes along the corridor look different. Nearly every new business near Smoketree this fall is taking over a space another business left.
| New tenant | Address | Previous occupant | Reported timing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Barrel House | 12646 Stone Village Way, Stonehenge Village | 101 Crafthouse | Hoping for November or December |
| Flavor Hive | Chesterfield Towne Center, 11500 Midlothian Tpke. | Five Guys | Later in 2026, no date |
| Nash & Smashed | 2061 Huguenot Rd. | Maple Street Biscuit Co. | Lease signed, no date |
| Jetset Pilates | 14313 Winterview Pkwy., Winterfield Crossing | Row House, closed July 24 | Early 2027 |
BizSense covered the Nash & Smashed lease in its October 6 restaurant roundup and reported the Jetset Pilates plan in August, after Row House closed.
Barrel House is the closest of these to opening, judging by the paperwork. The Iowa-based chain is leasing the roughly 2,900-square-foot space in the Wegmans-anchored Stonehenge Village. 101 Crafthouse closed there last year after about five years in business. It had opened in 2019 as a Growler USA before rebranding, so Barrel House will be at least the third beer-focused pub in that space. BizSense reported that the franchisees plan more than 100 beers on tap, along with burgers, pizza and Midwestern cheese curds, and expect a staff of about 20. A $600,000 tenant-upfit permit was issued September 15, according to BizSense's September 30 permit roundup.
Flavor Hive, a fast-casual spot known for walking tacos, is taking the old Five Guys space at the mall. A manager at its Glen Allen location told BizSense to expect an opening later this year.
Two smaller openings came this summer and fall. Capriotti's, the sandwich chain, opened in June at 35 Le Gordon Drive near the Turnpike. Retro Room, a shop for used and vintage video games, consoles and collectibles, set up at 10060 Robious Road in Robious Hall. Its website and an October 6 Macaroni KID article both announced an October 17 grand opening.
How the Next Few Months Are Likely to Go
Taken together, the timeline looks like this. Restaurants that can reuse an existing kitchen or bar are opening first, along with shops that move into finished space. The large new building with the grocery anchor comes later and in stages. The developer's own management firm has said the full rollout runs into 2027.
For the rest of this year, that probably means a pub in Stonehenge Village and a taco spot at the mall, possibly before the end of the year, and more sandwich and bakery counters on Steam Avenue as permits turn into opening days. As of early February, about 5,000 square feet of Midlothian Depot was still unleased, so the tenant list isn't final. The first Whole Foods date will most likely come from Whole Foods itself.
We keep an eye on these openings because we live and work along this same stretch of the Turnpike. If you want to know how a project like Midlothian Depot could affect a home on Courthouse Road, the team at Rick Cox Realty Group is happy to talk it through. Contact Us anytime.
