ASHEVILLE – Chipotle Mexican Grill and Panera Bread are among a host of tenants slated to open next year at The Peaks, a new retail center planned across from the Asheville Mall.

Texas-based United Development Co. said Thursday the center will be positioned at the corner of Tunnel Road and South Tunnel Road, the site of the former Beaucatcher Cinemas 7. The company purchased the property in 2015, razing the theater in preparation for the shopping center.

United Development Co. CEO Biff McGuire said his development group realized it would require purchasing 11 properties in a portfolio to nab the property where The Peaks will stand. So, that's what they did.

"They called me and said that this might be the best piece of real estate you ever own," McGuire said at an announcement event held near the future retail center at Whole Foods Market.

"That was the genesis of it, so in 2015, we bought all 11 properties."

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Other tenants announced Thursday include Durham-based Rise Biscuits and Donuts and Sleep Number, which will relocate there from the neighboring mall. Additional tenants are in the works, but were not ready to be publicly disclosed Thursday, Jodi Johnson, a developer at Christifulli Companies, which is involved with the project, said.

At capacity, The Peaks will have 12 restaurant and retail spaces for a total of 33,517 square feet. It is expected to open on the property in mid-2018.

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Plans for the project were discussed last year by the city's Technical Review Committee for an IP UTP Asheville, a limited liability company with a Southlake, Texas address — where United Development Co. is based. The company purchased the property for $2.5 million from Las Vegas Trail Theater Co., Citizen-Times archives show.

The property's taxable value was listed as $4.6 million.

Nick Christifulli, a partner in the project, said the shopping center's proximity to the mall as well as to one of Asheville's prominent shopping corridors made the decision easy. In many ways, Christifulli said, the development group "got lucky."

"When it comes to Tunnel Road and (U.S.) 70, it's really good with the traffic counts but more importantly their neighbor of traffic counts," Christifulli said. "You've got the freeway coming in but once you're in, you're driving into neighborhoods and businesses and residential areas."

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PFA Architects, of Asheville, designed the facility. Its slots are being leased out by Atlantic Retail Properties.