Developers plan to begin work soon on a long-anticipated shopping and entertainment village at one of the landmark corners of 2,000-acre Ballantyne in south Charlotte.

Sheild Property Co. will seek a permit this week to start preparing the 10-acre site for the first two buildings in 500,000-square-foot Ballantyne Village at the southwest quadrant of U.S. 521 and Ballantyne Commons Parkway.

The first phase -- about 100,000 square feet -- is to include what Sheild principal George Sheild calls "first-and-only" upscale stores and restaurants making their debut in the market and a five-screen art-and-independent film theater.

Among the tenants Sheild is working to sign: Orvis, a Vermont retailer of casual and outdoor clothing and supplies; Brio Tuscan Grille, an Atlanta-based Italian restaurant; and Stoney River Legendary Steaks, a Nashville-based chain of dinner-only steakhouses.

A major retail development has been envisioned on that pivotal corner -- across U.S. 521 from Ballantyne Commons East shopping center -- since the Ballantyne master plan was conceived more than a decade ago.

Sheild and partner Bob Bruner, who originally announced a two-level retail and office center -- The Terraces at Ballantyne -- renamed it last year and revised their plans to add housing.

The project now includes two 16-story condominium towers, enabling them to create a mix of uses similar in concept to Huntersville's Birkdale Village and SouthPark's Phillips Place.

Sheild, who has focused recently on retail leasing, said the first building -- about 40,000 square feet -- will face U.S. 521 near its intersection with Ballantyne Commons Parkway.

If permits are approved and construction starts in the next few weeks as anticipated, it will open in spring 2005, he said.

A second building -- about 60,000 square feet at the center of the project -- will include a two-level, 21,000-square-foot theater plus two levels of restaurants and shops. It's also expected to open in spring 2005.

Sheild said a third retail building facing Ballantyne Commons Parkway will total about 50,000 square feet and open probably in late spring 2005.

The midrise condominium buildings, which will contain more than 150 units between them and include office and retail space, will be developed after the initial shops and restaurants.

"Retail is the straw that stirs the drink," Sheild said. "We think that's what will make the offices and the condos in the village so attractive."

If demand materializes as expected, the first condo tower could be started by mid-2006 and the second by early 2007.

Sheild anticipates condos will sell in the $300-a-square-foot range, meaning that a 1,500-square-foot unit would list, for example, for about $450,000.

The project's estimated 135,000 square feet of Class A office space -- typically the newest and finest in the market -- will lease in the mid-$20s per square foot annually, Sheild said.

That exceeds Karnes Research Co.'s estimated $20-a-square-foot average for Class A space in the market area south of N.C. 51, but it's in line with Ballantyne Corporate Park office lease rates.

Ballantyne Village is quoting a retail rental rate of $30 to $32 a square foot annually, depending on location within the project.

According to Karnes Research, the highest average retail rates last year -- $30 a square foot -- were in the center city. The average south of N.C. 51 was $21.58 a square foot.

Panera Bread Co., a Richmond Heights, Mo., chain of bakery-cafes, has signed a lease for 5,100 square feet in the first retail building, Sheild said.

He's negotiating with an operator for the 1,000-seat theater and working to convert letters of intent from prospective tenants to signed leases.

Orvis would occupy about 15,000 square feet; Brio Tuscan Grille, about 7,500 square feet, and Stoney River Legendary Steaks, about 6,500 square feet.

Sheild said he also is working with Modern Salon & Spa; White House/Black Market, a women's apparel store; Williams-Sonoma, a national cookware chain; Under the Grape, a local wine specialty shop; Starbucks coffee; and a gelato ice cream store.

He said some familiar retailers in the SouthPark area -- Williams-Sonoma, for example -- are interested in expanding to Ballantyne with an additional store.

Sheild said the developers see the Ballantyne area south of Interstate 485 as a separate retail market that won't competed directly with SouthPark.

By 2007, the company's projections show, the number of households within a five-mile radius of Ballantyne will total about 45,000, compared with 39,281 in 2002.

The village, with its distinctive towers and glass theater rotunda, was designed by Charlotte's ai Design Group.