MURRIETA -- Construction on a 470,000-square-foot shopping center that would bring welcome retail options to French Valley and eastern Murrieta has ceased.

Kevin Smith, director of marketing for W.L. Butler Construction in Irvine, said construction recently stopped on Murrieta Marketplace, which was expected to house Target, Lowe's and Staples.

Smith declined to say when construction stopped or why. The project is a Regency Centers Corp. development and sits on Murrieta's eastern border where it would capture the French Valley and Winchester markets as well.

The first phase of the center, located on Winchester Road at its future intersection with Clinton Keith Road near Benton Road, was expected to be completed this year, and the entire center was supposed to open in 2010.

Instead, the project is on hold as the anchor tenant, Target, which owns its space within the center, has put off constructing the building it would occupy with no mention of a restart date.

Anna Anderson, a spokeswoman for Target, declined to say when or whether construction on the Murrieta Marketplace store could resume.

"We are continuing to evaluate how we want to move forward with this site," Anderson said, adding that the area was selected because of the potential for customers.

The corporate retailer now has a store open at California Oaks Road in Murrieta and in July is planning to open a Super Target off of Clinton Keith Road at The Orchard shopping center.

Bruce Coleman, the city's economic development director, said last week that, though Murrieta Marketplace is at a standstill, he believes the site is an untapped well for French Valley and Winchester sales dollars.

"It has been delayed because of the retail market," Coleman said. "But our (understanding) with Target as of two weeks ago is they're still very motivated," to open this store.

The city is poised to uphold development agreements with Regency. On Tuesday, the City Council plans to consider a massive Capital Improvements Plan, which includes a $1 million reimbursement to Regency Centers for work that is to be completed on Clinton Keith and Winchester roads, a requirement of the city on the Murrieta Marketplace project. Clinton Keith would be extended from its deadend at Antelope Road just west of I-215 to Winchester Road.

The money, though allocated for projects, will not be paid to Regency until specific construction benchmarks are met, Coleman said.

Council members also are expected Tuesday to consider an agreement to allow Regency Centers to be reimbursed $2.8 million in fees tacked on to developments to finance road work. That money would come from the Western Riverside Council of Governments, not from city coffers, city reports state.

Representatives of Regency did not respond to several requests for comment.

Construction started on Murrieta Marketplace in October, with developer representatives touting the project as bringing hundreds of construction jobs and even more employment opportunities as big name retailers set up shop there.

During that October groundbreaking, city leaders also cheered on the project, which its proponents estimated would generate as much as $2.5 million in sales and property taxes annually.

Residents saw the center as a much-needed reprieve from trips outside of their community. Conscious of gas prices, residents of Winchester and French Valley said they were looking forward to the day when a trip to the store for cosmetics or new lawn furniture wouldn't include fighting traffic on the way to northern Murrieta or east to Hemet.

The center wasn't without its detractors.

Regency Centers settled a lawsuit filed by a group that claimed the development company had not provided sufficient environmental analysis when the project was approved in 2006.

The project also came under public fire when city officials struck a deal in which it would have reimbursed the developer for as much as $5 million for the required infrastructure improvements. The deal was renegotiated to save the city about $2 million.

Contact staff writer Nelsy Rodriguez at 951-676-4315, ext. 2626.