The "Village of Rochester Hills" is coming out of the muck and mire at Adams and Walton roads, and it won't be long before a new streetscape is in place that is part of the latest trend in retail shopping.

Not unlike the Fountain Walk in Novi that we featured last month, the Village of Rochester Hills will be an open air mall with "Main Street" style stores and nearby parking. The mall will have sidewalks, lampposts and architecturally distinctive storefronts to create a downtown look. The village is expected to include 49 stores and 376,000 square-feet of retail space, including anchor stores Parisian and a Farmer Jack Food Emporium. The entire project will cost about $40 million.

The developer said storefronts will share similar building materials, including stone, brick, wood and stucco, and will be "unique, yet complementary."

Mud has dominated the site in recent weeks, and moving it and putting in foundations has recently been the primary job of building trades workers on the site. Jesco Construction Inc. of Mississippi - a typically nonunion contractor that has hired union workers on this project - is in charge of the Parisian store, and Clark Construction is handling the rest of the project, except the Farmer Jack store.

Clark Project Manager John DeBrabander said last month that rain has complicated the construction process, as has the necessity of working around three existing restaurants at the site

"As you can see, there's a little mud out there," DeBrander said in an understatement. "The rains in November set us back a bit. But we're still on course for a grand opening in September 2002."

The project involved demolition of the existing 25-year-old, one-story MeadowBrook Village Mall that had been built on farm land.

"It's going to be a knockout project, said developer Bruce Aikens. "I think it will be a national pacesetter."

OPERATING ENGINEER Jake Pagnani of Local 324 places soil in the back of a tandem trailer at the future Village of Rochester Hills. The building going up in the background is a new Parisian store.