by Josh Carpenter

MOORESVILLE – Project developers for the Langtree at the Lake development are saying there aren’t any plans for a Costco supermarket for the Exit 31 project.

Barry Rigby, executive vice president of development for RL West and Langtree Development Co., said the development could pump millions of dollars into Mooresville and the surrounding communities.

But Costco won’t be a part of that.

Rumors of a Costco supermarket coming to the Langtree project have been swirling for almost a year now.

Officials from the big-box store, which has locations on Tyvola Road in Charlotte and in Matthews, approached Langtree about the potential of a store along the Interstate 77 corridor.

“We were not particularly enthralled with the prospect and basically passed on the opportunity right away,” Rigby said. “We don’t see that as part of our development plans.”

Craig Culberson, senior planner with the town of Mooresville, said it would be hard to see a big-box store like Costco move into Langtree’s development or the surrounding area.

The land around Exit 31 is designated as “employment center office” by the town and a Costco wouldn’t fit in with the land use plan.

“The primary use would be for the Lowe’s corporate office or something like that,” Culberson said. “You’re going to have a small amount of service that would be basically for the folks that are working there.”

A Costco spokeswoman also denied the rumor, saying no Mooresville location was being permitted through the company’s construction office.

Construction of the $2 billion Langtree project recently began.

And developers are thinking big.

The whole project includes four miles of waterfront property and nearly two miles of frontage along I-77 South.

The first phase alone entails 300 luxury apartments totaling 850,000 square feet and 50,000 square feet of retail.

“The biggest hurdle is always getting to the first shovel of dirt,” Rigby said. “We’re out of the ground now and those support pylons are going toward the sky.”