East Lyme — With the residential phase of the Gateway Commons development underway, developers will begin discussing its commercial phase tonight before the Zoning Commission.

Gateway Commons is a planned residential and commercial village in the vicinity of Interstate 95’s exits 73 and 74. The town had approved a master plan for the project five years ago, but the development had stalled during the economic downturn.

The residential phase entails 280 rental apartments, housed in 10 identical townhouses, while the commercial phase calls for up to 425,000 square feet of retail space, including one 140,000-square-foot anchor store and up to five smaller “junior anchor” stores.

A pre-application review for the first part of the commercial project is slated for Thursday’s Zoning Commission meeting, which will take place at 7:30 p.m. at Town Hall. State laws allow such a “non-binding informal discussion” between the commission and the applicant, according to the meeting agenda.

To proceed with the commercial phase, the developers, Simon Konover Company of West Hartford and KGI Properties of Providence, would need to submit an application and come before the commission at a later point for approval of their final site plan.

Construction on the residential units began earlier this year, after the town granted approval to the developers for their final residential site plan.

k.drelich@theday.com