All told, Town Square's master plan incorporates 300 housing units, 235,000 sf of retail, 205,000 sf of office space and a 200-room hotel. Phase I will include 170,000 sf of retail shops and restaurants, 185 multifamily units, 40,000 sf of office space and a multi-screen movie theater. Phase II plans call for the hotel and the rest of the retail, office and residential development.

Town Square's signature element will be a one-third-mile esplanade running from Biltmore Park's original anchor amenity, a 65,000-sf Reuter Family YMCA, to the planned 18-screen 57,000-sf theater. The planned mixed-use buildings would line the esplanade. Almost all of the off-street parking will be in parking decks tucked behind the buildings. Townhomes will wrap the parking decks to maximize street frontage.

Site work for Phase I will begin in spring 2006, with the theater and a majority of retail tenants expected to open in November 2007. An executive with one of the companies involved could not be reached Wednesday for comment. Biltmore Farms president Jack Cecil predicts in a prepared statement that the development "will complement Downtown Asheville by becoming a regional draw, attracting visitors from the 16-county trade area to a destination that will introduce new retailers to the market and add a live-work-play environment unique to the region."

Crosland officials say Town Square will be a more ambitious version of Birkdale Village, the company's 52-acre mixed-use development in Huntersville. The project is essentially a retail "Main Street" surrounded by housing development. Tenants at Birkdale Village include Williams-Sonoma, Talbots, Banana Republic, Ann Taylor Loft, Victoria's Secret and Barnes & Noble.

In 2003, Birkdale was named the nation's best mixed-use development by the National Association of Home Builders. It also won the International Council of Shopping Centers Design and Development award for best mixed-use development and was one of 26 international finalists for the Urban Land Institute's Award for Excellence.

Crosland officials say the master plan for Town Square is more holistic than Birkdale because it includes a hotel, for-sale housing, more office space and more structured parking allowing for more density. Both master plans were developed by Charlotte-based Shook Kelley.

Biltmore Farms has been planning a downtown component to Biltmore Park since 1999. In 2000 and 2004, respectively, Biltmore Farms opened One Town Square and Two Town Square, which consist of two stories of office over ground-floor retail. The new master plan integrates these existing structures and businesses into a unified Town Square.

Biltmore also has developed several master-planned residential communities in the immediate area, including Biltmore Forest, Biltmore Park, Biltmore Lake and the Ramble. Crosland and Biltmore previously collaborated on Cranbrook at Biltmore Park, a luxury apartment development.

In support of the project and other development in the area, the widening of Long Shoals Road to five lanes will be completed this year. Improvements to the I-26/Long Shoals interchange are expected to wrap up before Town Square's first phase is finished.