Richmond, Va., Developer Sees Massive Retail Center Idea to Completion.

Byline: Gregory J. Gilligan

Sep. 3--Developer Thomas E. Pruitt first considered putting a regional shopping mall on part of his family's land in western Henrico County nearly two decades ago.

"I thought the Short Pump area would be dynamic for something really special," Pruitt said.

But whatever he planned for the land had to be distinctive and first class. After all, his parents' 90-acre farm with the white fence along West Broad Street is across the street. "My mother said that if you develop it, it has to be done right," according to Pruitt.

Pruitt, along with Cleveland-based Forest City Enterprises Inc., developed the land into the Short Pump Town Center shopping center.

Short Pump opens tomorrow on 147 acres across from the Wellesley community.

Pruitt believes his mother is proud.

"It is a quality project and she is happy with it," he said. "I am astounded at how great it looks."

The open-air shopping center features the area's first Nordstrom store and approximately four dozen other sought-after and upscale retailers new to the Richmond market.

Short Pump also includes Hecht's, Dillard's and Dick's Sporting Goods as anchor tenants, as well as about 110 other stores and restaurants. (A Lord & Taylor store is scheduled to open by fall 2004, but the chain has acknowledged that it is trying to find another retailer to take over the space.)

The $360 million project is the first new shopping center built in the Richmond area since 1991, when Virginia Center Commons opened. Two weeks later, Stony Point Fashion Park opens off of Chippenham Parkway in South Richmond with Saks Fifth Avenue, Dillard's, and Galyan's as anchor tenants. It will have about 90 stores and restaurants.

Both centers will give Richmonders--and shoppers who are expected …