Ask your friends what they picture when they think of Wrentham, and it’s almost certain the outlet mall – that bastion of bargains and protector of pocketbooks – tops the list.

Alright, but what else? There’s an active downtown business district – though it’s a few miles away, and mall shoppers seldom, if ever, venture there. Foxborough’s Patriot Place isn’t far – but it’s also not in Wrentham.

Let’s face it. It’s something of a no-man’s-land for visitors. But nevermind visitors, what about the residents? They don’t have a grocery store, not even a pharmacy, within the town limits. These poor folks can hardly buy an aspirin in town.

But that could all change – sooner or later. And the residents themselves are angling to have a big say in it.

‘They Wanted Out’

The developer of the approximately 120,000-square-foot Wrentham Crossing retail project across from the outlets on Route 1A just filed plans with the town for a more than 90,000-square-foot building and three smaller properties with retail and at least one restaurant.

When reached by phone, developer Marcello Mallegni said he did not have time to speak on the subject. Town Planner Paige Duncan said she was unaware of tenants lined up for the project, but stressed a need for the kinds of tenants town residents could benefit from, not necessarily visitors attracted by endless bargains.

“You’re not going to want to attract a business that isn’t going to build on that mall activity, because people from Wrentham don’t go to that mall area on the weekends because of the traffic. So it really needs to build off what happens at the mall,” Duncan said. “I’d love a Nordstrom Rack type of store for competition to Bloomingdales, a couple restaurants. The outlet mall and its success has really changed how you look at the area as a planner.”

But the Wrentham Crossing project is not the only potential development in town.

Another 42 acres of land just south of the outlets and Wrentham Crossing along Route 1A were recently re-zoned from residential to commercial use. And while those kinds of zoning changes are not uncommon, especially near main thoroughfares and highways, the process to aggregate the land was far from the norm.

The land is owned by homeowners actually living on the property. And with the continued construction around their homes, inability to get out of their driveways because of mall traffic, and tractor trailer trucks endlessly rumbling by, they wanted out.

So the neighbors worked together toward their common goal and created an association to aggregate their land and sell it all as one parcel. It has now been re-zoned to C-2 status for commercial use, which Duncan called “the most liberal” zoning available. She said she is now trying to push the town to engage in long-range planning for the area so development can be more closely guided.

“C-2 zoning can really be anything, from a bank site, to a gas station, to a hotel or motel,” said Peter Preston, one of the owners of the 42 acres. “There’s an endless amount of things, business-wise, that a developer can do here.”

Making A Bet

The idea of a hotel certainly seems to fit into Duncan’s vision for the area immediately around the outlet malls, especially when European visitors to the area make stops at the affordable mall and can’t find a place to stay.

But she said she also thinks the site is ideal for mixed uses.

The first two-thirds of the land nearest Rt. 1A/South Street are zoned commercial. But the remainder – farthest from the main thoroughfare – remains residential to act as a buffer between potential development and the neighborhoods to the rear, said David Wluka, head of Sharon-based Wluka Real Estate Corp., retained to market the property for the eight owners.

That buffer zone could be a prime location for a developer to create residential housing, Duncan told Banker & Tradesman. The town does not currently meet the 40B affordable housing law requirement that 10 percent of its housing stock be affordable, hovering at only four percent now. Affordable housing in the location could help meet that requirement, Duncan suggested.

“It’s an area in transition,” she told Banker & Tradesman. “It seems like you could really create a lifestyle, live-work area like so many other places are doing by playing off the outlet mall. And there’s a hotel needed desperately in that area. There’s nothing like that out there. If we could get some sort of function or conference space there that could be a great use.”

But another local commercial real estate professional threw still one more idea into the mix.

Mark Donahue, owner of Brockton-based M. Donahue Associates said a casino would be “perfectly appropriate” at the site because, since it’s right on the highway, gamblers would not need to create excess traffic through any residential areas to get a fix.

But that’s all academic at this point, as Wluka is only now starting to market the property. He will be asking for $6 million for the site, roughly $150,000 per acre. He said the site needs a master planning developer to make it all work, and a company like National Development would fit the bill well – though he cautioned he has not actually approached any developer yet.