NORTHSIDERS WILL soon have a new choice when shopping along Old Canton Road.

The Ridgeland Board of Aldermen recently approved a site plan for the Trace Trail II shopping center, a 16,000-square-foot center that will be located at the corner of Old Canton and Rice Road.

Jeff Speed, an official with the Overby Company, the real estate firm managing the property, said he is pleased with the decision, noting that the project will complement the Trace Trails shopping center already there and the surrounding area. “It will help tie the area together,” he said.

Construction on the project was expected to begin shortly after the vote earlier this month. “The owner, Tabor Weissinger, acquired the vacant lot on the other side of the shopping center south of the gas station and we proposed adding a new shopping center,” he said.

Speed said the project will more than double the amount of retail space at Trace Trail - the first facility is 13,000 square feet - and offer residents’ needs that aren’t already met locally. “We consider this to be a neighborhood center with businesses and services that benefit people in a one-mile radius.

“We need learning centers, fitness facilities, medical professionals, dry cleaners, take-out restaurants, salons and other businesses,” he said, mentioning the types of businesses he and the owner would like to see there. “We want anything that will better serve the community.”

Weissinger, the owner of Rice Road Retail, couldn’t be reached for comment through e-mail, but Speed said he doesn’t expect the shopping center to attract many large national retailers.

Despite not attracting large national chains, Speed said the area along Old Canton is experiencing significant growth. Retailers in the area are already benefiting from high traffic counts.

THERE ARE now three tenants in Trace Trail phase one and Speed said two other companies have signed letters of intent. “We’re in the process of getting two other tenants,” he said. “We have a new attorney’s office, a small gym called 1-2-3 Fitness and an insurance agency.”

Although Speed wouldn’t specify which companies are planning to locate in the shopping center, he did say that they’re in negotiations with a children’s learning center and upscale wine shop.