*This version corrects information of the center breaking ground on phase three.*

Officials with Mayfaire Town Center said Thursday they are moving forward with preleasing for the center’s $21 million phase three development.

Cindy Ciurat, a spokeswoman with Michigan-based C&C Consulting that markets the center nationally, said officials hope to secure leases by the third quarter of 2013, with contruction slated for the next phase of the development soon after.

Boasting more than 700,000 square feet of retail space, Mayfaire Town Center is currently 70 percent built out.

The newest phase of the development could add more than 96,000 square feet of retail on vacant land and existing parking near the World Market and Belk’s department store, according to officials and development renderings.

Parking decks and rental apartment units may also be incorporated in the newest phase of the project.  

More than 73,000 square feet of retail space in the development’s phase three is currently being preleased and could be open to merchants and shoppers by spring 2014, according to leasing information on Mayfaire Town Center’s website.

Mayfaire officials first launched construction of the center in September 2002 and has completed two phases. Phase one opened in the spring of 2004, while phase two work was completed in the fall of 2008.

Another component of the 400-acre mixed-use development – Mayfaire Community Center, which is anchored by Harris Teeter off Military Cutoff Road – also has the capacity to expand by another 100,000-125,000 square feet in a later phase.

Calls to Mayfaire Town Center leasing agent, Roxana Kish, were not immediately returned Thursday afternoon.