ALTHOUGH THE Renaissance development in Ridgeland is still four months away from its official grand opening, the shopping center is already attracting big names for shoppers to choose from.

Two restaurants, a P.F. Chang’s China Bistro and a Biaggi’s Ristorante Italiano, have already opened in the 500,000-square-foot shopping center.

And, according to Jan Mattiace, with Mattiace Properties, several more national chains are planning to set up shop there before it opens in March 2008.

Recently, the Ridgeland Board of Aldermen approved site plans for several more national chains, including a White House/Black Market, J. Jill, Banana Republic, and a Bath and Body Works. Other businesses expected to join the development include Barnes and Noble, Ethan Allen, Talbot’s, Ann Taylor Loft and Williams-Sonoma.

“We have a lot of tenants who are considering opening second locations and others are still in negotiations and we can’t release their names,” she said. “Having a large number of tenants will ensure that it (the shopping center) will be a destination that will draw shoppers.”

Renaissance is what many call a “lifestyle center.” It is located on 57 acres bordered by Old Agency Road, Highland Colony Parkway and I-55. The massive development will feature an Old European and Mediterranean-style architecture and a main street atmosphere for shoppers, she said.

The development will also feature sidewalk cafes a green commons area and water features, she said.

Mattiace said construction on the facility is moving along on schedule. And the center has already achieved several milestones among similar developments in the Southeast.

THE SHOPPING CENTER will be home to the region’s first Biaggi’s Italian concept restaurant. “This is the furthest south we’ve ever been,” Biaggi’s CEO Todd Hovenden said. “And so far, we are loving it.”

The restaurant features the traditional Italian pastas and red sauces. And it also features entrees like steaks, pork chops and seafood, but with an Italian twist, he said. There are 21 Biaggi’s across the nation, most of which are located in the northern Midwest.

It opened in the center at the end of October. Since, then, he said, business has done quite well.

Hovenden initially liked the market size and the energy and growth in the Ridgeland and Jackson area.

But he was most attracted by the Renaissance development and by the number of tenants that have already committed to locating there. “We usually locate in lifestyle centers,” he said. “Most of the developments we’ve located in are very similar to Renaissance.”

Mattiace said having a large number of tenants and high visibility from I-55 have drawn new businesses to the development. Other developments, like the Market Street shopping center now under construction on Lakeland Drive in Flowood, have also drawn businesses.

Some national chains, like J.Jill, Talbot’s and Anne Taylor Loft, come to the shopping center together, she said. Once they see national chains there, others have followed.

The development, once it’s completed, will draw local residents as well as shoppers from a 100-mile radius. “People can leave any part of Jackson and get there in a matter of minutes,” she said.