Transcan Development is a developer of large-scale mixed-use projects throughout California. In addition to County Crossings, Transcan's current projects include Canyon Crossings, a 90-acre Retail/Class A office project that is under construction in Riverside, CA, and will be anchored by a Wal-Mart; and California Crossings, a 1.2 million-sf retail project in Otay Mesa (San Diego County) that has yet to break ground.

In early 2005, when GlobeSt.com last wrote about its Antioch project, the plan only included the retail center and Transcan was hoping to break ground this year and open in late 2007. At that time, Transcan had not yet closed on the land or decided what to do with the 50 extra acres it was acquiring on top of the 200 acres he needed for the retail development. Ultimately he chose to add 20 acres to the retail development and use the remaining 30 for the residential component.

"Obtaining all the necessary government approval and working things out with the city just takes more time than you ever think," Transcan chief executive Bob Bahen tells GlobeSt.com. "But it's going well."

The development site is located at the northwest quadrant of the intersection of Highways 4 and 160 in Contra Costa County. The project will have more than a mile of freeway frontage and is expected to draw residents from the nearby cities of Pittsburg, Antioch, Oakley and Brentwood. The project architect is KTGY Group Architecture and Planning of Santa Monica, CA.

The retail development likely will include 400,000 sf to 500,000 sf of big-box retail; the remaining 1 million sf will be a mix of mid-box retailers, specialty shop space and free-standing pads for restaurants and other uses. Bahen says negotiations are underway with several retailers, some of which are already in the market and several that are not. Nearby shopping centers include the 35-acre Somersville Towne Center in Antioch, where Macy's opened in 2004, and the 52-acre Lone Tree Plaza in Brentwood that is anchored by Home Depot and Kohl's.

The marketing and leasing team for County Crossings is from the Sacramento office of CB Richard Ellis. Colliers International previously had the assignment but Bahen earlier this year decided to give the leasing and marketing of all his properties exclusively to a single firm, CBRE.

"It just made better sense to have it all under one house," he says. "I've had strong and very good relationships with CBRE."

The team assigned to County Crossing includes Craig Burress, Chris Campbell, Sue Fowler and Andrew Mustin in CBRE's Sacramento office. Burress says there are 280,000 people living within 10 miles of the site. About 82,000 cars pass by the site daily, says Campbell. In addition, a BART light rail station is planned at one end of the site, where the residential will be concentrated, says Bahen.