Commercial Development
* East Market: Part retail, part residential, East Market at Fair Lakes is currently springing up on 34 acres between Dick's Sporting Goods and West Ox Road, in the southwest corner of the Fair Lakes Parkway and West Ox. Developing it is The Peterson Cos. of Fair Lakes. It's a three-part project, consisting of:
* A retail center oriented to a tree-lined street, with parking behind it. Just off of Fair Lakes Parkway and Fair Lakes Circle (near the Kohl's department store) will be a Whole Foods grocery store, expected to open in January. At 64,000 square feet, it'll be one of the chain's largest stores in Virginia and will also seat 70-80 people for in-store meals. There'll also be small, supporting shops including a Chevy Chase Bank, Maggie Moo's ice cream parlor and an upscale stationery store called Blue Tulip, all anticipated to open in late fall. In addition, Pei Wei Asian Diner is slated to open there in August. It's a quick-serve restaurant associated with P.F. Chang's.
A pedestrian-oriented area with a Main Street feel, these businesses front on a new street called East Market Drive — connecting from the front of Dick's to Fair Lakes Parkway. Also part of this shopping area is a plaza where people may sit and relax.
* Élan at East Market — An eight-story, residential condo building with elevators and underground parking. The approximately 200 units will come with one, two or three bedrooms. It will arise across from Whole Foods; construction is now beginning.
* Some 200 "stacked townhouses" — which are actually two-story condos built above other two-story condos. The project will also include 13 affordable dwelling units (ADUs). Construction is almost complete on the units closest to the corner of West Ox and Fair Lakes Parkway, and work on the others is also well underway. They're billed as "townhome-style, garage condominiums" and are anticipated to sell from the upper $300,000s. Peterson is also making some needed road improvements. It's adding a second, left-turn lane on Fair Lakes Parkway, eastbound, for motorists going north on West Ox. At the same location, it's lengthening the right-turn lane. A traffic light will be installed at the project's entrance from Fair Lakes Parkway, and several other turn lanes around the property's frontage will either get lengthened or be added. Peterson will also construct a large, noise barrier on I-66 to shield its project from highway sounds.
* Westone Plaza Restaurants: When all is said and done, the Westone Plaza area off Westfields Boulevard and Route 28 in Centreville will have a total of five new restaurants, a wireless store and a beauty salon/day spa. Access is off Stonecroft Boulevard through Westone Plaza.
Already open for business are Moe's Southwest Grill (burritos and more), Quiznos Subs, Cingular Wireless, a freestanding Applebee's and Eggspectation (a Canadian franchise, full-service, sit-down restaurant).
Just opened, Eggspectation has a family-oriented, yet romantic, atmosphere and offers breakfast, lunch and dinner all day. Besides a juice and smoothie bar, it features a coffee bar and menu items ranging from crepes to 10 types of Eggs Benedict and 15 kinds of omelets, as well as meat, fish, chicken and pasta dishes, sandwiches and salads. Texas Roadhouse, a steakhouse complete with line dancing, is also in this restaurant complex and was the first one to open here. Coming in the near future will be Scotto's Rigatoni Grill (pizza, pasta, subs) and the Allure Salon & Spa.
* Shops at Avion: A new shopping center with an attached, drive-through Wendy's is being built at the corner of Route 50 and Airline Parkway in Chantilly. It's on 3.5 acres of currently vacant land in front of the Meadows of Chantilly community, with an entrance off Airline Parkway. It's being developed by the McLean firm of Stout and Teague, and two buildings with some eight to 10, neighborhood-serving tenants are planned. Already beginning to set up shop there are: Advance America (cash advances), Philly Connection Cheese Steaks, Verizon Wireless, Cafe Aroma (breakfast, lunch, dinner), Cali Dreaming & Co. Tanning, Clean Mart, Pho 98 (Vietnamese restaurant) and L.A. Boxing (cardio boxing workouts).
* Mixed-Use Project: The Peterson Cos. is building a 10-story, multi-family building, a six-story office building and a four-level parking garage in Fair Lakes. Work has not yet begun, but construction is expected to take a year. The 10-story condominium building will be the first, high-rise residential building in Fair Lakes. In its 150,000 square feet will be some 125 residential units with underground parking. It will arise between the Hyatt Fair Lakes and an existing, 10-story office building, and two-bedroom units are expected to sell for $350,000 to $450,000. Situated so close to the hotel, condo residents would be able to avail themselves of the Hyatt's restaurant, coffee shop and bar. And the condo building, itself, will have a swimming pool on the roof, plus a health club and exercise room inside. The new office building will be 113,000 square feet on a spot that's now surface parking. The four-story parking deck will replace the existing parking and will also house the parking for the new office building. The project also includes the creation of a plaza between the residential area and the existing office building. Another plaza, between the new and old office buildings, may possibly accommodate outdoor dining.
* Ridgewood: This huge, new project featuring shops, restaurants, homes and offices will come to fruition at the northwest intersection of Waples Mill Road and Lee Highway, near Ridge Top Road in Fairfax. Developer KSI Services Inc. of Vienna will create an active, mixed-use community balanced with retail and office uses, plus landscaped open space for community use. Planned on an 18-acre site are 152,400 square feet of offices — with an option to add 50,000 square feet more, 32,100 square feet of retail and 500 residential units. The homes will be high-quality condominiums for sale, rather than rent, and will be about 1,300 square feet each. One residential building will be seven or eight stories high, and another will feature some 20,000 square feet of the retail uses, with condos on the second floor. The project will also contain some ADUs (affordable dwelling units), plus workforce housing to accommodate people making about $74,000/year — higher than what's required to qualify for an ADU.
Parking for the offices will be in a parking garage, and residential parking will be under a central plaza so none of the vehicles will be visible from the outside. The developer will also extend Government Center Parkway between Monument Drive and Waples Mill Road. It'll be four lanes, median-divided and will help with traffic flow in the Lee Highway Corridor.
* Unicorp National Developments Inc. plans to build a 14,550-square-foot Walgreen's Pharmacy and a 5,700-square-foot Bank of America, plus a 3,200-square-foot retail building at Centreville's Routes 28/29 intersection.
They would replace an adult video store, ethnic grocery and psychic reader currently on there. Both the bank and pharmacy need special-exception permits from the county for their drive-through windows.
* Pender Campus: A new, mixed-use development is being proposed for Fair Oaks. To be called Pender Campus, it would contain offices and retail in an upscale, village square/town center-type concept. The nearly 35 1/2-acre site is at Route 50 and Fair Ridge Drive, on the Dominion Virginia Power site, just west of the Exxon station and the Hilton Garden Inn.
The project is envisioned as being 2/3 office use and 1/3 retail. Commercial tenants will include a Harris Teeter grocery store, a Coldstone Creamery and a restaurant. The idea is that residents in the surrounding neighborhoods and people working in the offices could walk to the retail uses.
* Fairfax Towne Center: When more retail stores, plus condos, are added to the Fairfax Towne Center, this popular shopping center off West Ox Road in Fair Oaks will have a dramatic new look. Lincoln Property Co. is constructing a new, five-story building on what's now a parking lot between the movie theater and Baja Fresh. The 203,800-square-foot structure will contain 184,000 square feet of residential use — 169 condos and eight affordable dwelling units (ADUs) — on four floors, over 19,800 square feet of ground-floor retail. A pool, gym, terraces, walkways, seating areas, underground parking and landscaping are also planned.
Lincoln will erect a sign along Monument Court directing shoppers, as well as residents of the new building, toward the residential garage, the retail garage or the retail surface parking lot. Lincoln has also agreed to build an 8-foot-wide trail along the northern portion of the site and paint a new crosswalk to connect with an existing crosswalk at Bed, Bath and Beyond. And it will contribute money for additional trails in the Springfield District.
* Old Centreville Crossing Shopping Center: In recognition of the local area's growing Korean population, most of this shopping center has been transformed into a shopping destination for Korean customers. There's an indoor mall with a variety of shops, plus Korean restaurants, and construction of a luxury spa is already underway. The other recent change here was the closing of Copeland's restaurant and the opening of an International House of Pancakes in its place.
* PNC Bank hopes to build a branch at Route 29 and Braddock Road realigned in Centreville's expanded Historic District. It would have two stories and 5,378 square feet. Customers would enter this 15-employee bank from Braddock. Hours of operation would be Monday-Friday, from 9 a.m.-7 p.m.; Saturday, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.; and Sunday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m.
The bank's exterior would mostly be red brick, with stone, plus plank siding to resemble houses in the nearby Historic District. The style is a blend of 18th- and 19th-century Colonial design. And architect Eric Brill with Gensler Architecture intends to construct a "green" building with no adverse effects on the environment.
It would be energy-efficient, have no outside light pollution, reduced water usage and an underground stormwater-management system. It would take advantage of natural light and use recycled materials in its construction. First, though, the bank must obtain county approval of a special-exception permit for its two, drive-through lanes.