The Sully District never remains static. New projects are always under way. Below are some of them:
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* Fairfax Corner expansion: </b>Seven new buildings and lots more parking will be coming to the Fairfax Corner shopping center. Developer, The Peterson Cos., is going to add 350 residential units and 636,000 square feet of nonresidential development. Planned are:
* Two residential-only buildings containing multifamily units, flanking the Coastal Flats restaurant, and another residential-only building west of P.F. Chang’s and the pond by Monument Drive;
* Three buildings combining both office and retail, on either side of the theater, adjacent to Random Hills Road;
* One hotel containing retail uses, and parking decks.
And all of it will be connected to the trail system running throughout the Government Center complex. Parking decks will arise on the east and west sides of the movie theater. And a new building in front of the east-side parking deck will feature retail on the ground floor and office above it. A Hyatt Place hotel is slated to be built in front of that building.
New, small shops and restaurants, including a Maggiano’s, will extend the Main Street/town-center feel, east and west, all the way to Government Center Parkway. They’ll go along Palace Way — the street in front of the theater — on both sides of the theater.
So besides the existing main street, Grand Commons Avenue, Palace Way will become a second shopping and strolling street, with parallel parking on both sides. New plazas will also be built. In addition: <b>
Ozzie’s Corner Italian </b>is slated to open this fall on the east side of Fairfax Corner, at the corner of Grand Commons Avenue and Monument Wall Way. It’s part of the Great American Restaurants chain, which also operates Coastal Flats in Fairfax Corner and Sweetwater Tavern in Centreville. <b>
Pinkberry yogurt — </b>which has 30 toppings, including fresh fruit — is also opening a new store in Fairfax Corner. It will be across the street from Chipotle’s. <b>
* Fair Lakes Shopping Center addition: </b>This shopping area is getting some new stores, restaurants, offices and a plaza. Developed by The Peterson Cos., the shopping center is between Stringfellow Road and Fair Lakes Parkway. Its addition will go on a nearly 14-acre section bounded on one side by Olive Garden and on the other by Loehmann’s, Toys ‘R’ Us and Pet Smart.
Planned is a building with ground-floor retail, plus office space and structured parking, with storefronts opposite both the existing stores and Olive Garden. A plaza of some 20,000 square feet will go in front of Pet Smart, in the parking lot, and provide a gathering place. The pedestrian arcade will allow people to walk from the plaza to the shops and Olive Garden. Trees, lights and benches will be added to the existing shopping area to encourage people to sit and relax.
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* Immigrant Worker Center: </b>
As a way to help local immigrants find work — and also to remove them from street corners near a library and shopping center — plans are progressing for a worker center in Centreville. Al Dwoskin, who owns the Centreville Square Shopping Center, proposed the idea and will donate one of his storefronts for the worker center. He will also equip the space with furniture and computers and pay for the utilities.
Members of the Centreville Immigration Forum (CIF) will be in charge of its day-to-day operations. Two, paid, staff people will be there at all times, and trained volunteers will run it. Funding will come from grants and private donations.
The plan is for prospective employers to come directly to the center to hire workers, instead of picking them up from the streets. That way, an organized system would be in place, work would be fairly distributed among all the immigrants participating and workers would be paid for their labor.
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* Mount Olive Baptist Church: </b>This congregation is building a new church. Phase one is a 51,916-square-foot sanctuary on the south side of Mount Olive Road. There’ll be 1,100 seats initially and another 400 later. Also planned are a child-care area, Sunday School classrooms, chapel, fellowship hall and administrative wing. <b>
* Harvest Chinese Christian Church: </b>If this church can get VDOT’s approval for its turn lanes on Route 29, it’ll be a big step closer to being able to build a place of worship in Centreville. The site is four acres at the southwest corner of Route 29 at Cedar Spring Road.
The building footprint is planned for 10,500 square feet, with a 300-seat sanctuary. Also planned is a 2,500-square-foot daycare center to serve 25 children at a time, plus a playground. <b>
* Stringfellow Road: </b>The part of Stringfellow between I-66 and Route 29 was four-laned in the 1990s by Fairfax County's Department of Transportation. But the section from I-66 to Route 50 will also go from two to four lanes, providing a quicker, wider conduit between Route 50 in Chantilly and Route 29 in Clifton/Centreville.
The goal is to reduce traffic congestion on Stringfellow, especially during evening and morning peaks. There’ll be four travel lanes — two, 12 feet wide, and two, 14 feet wide; a 10-foot multipurpose trail, a 6-foot sidewalk and a raised, 16-foot, grass median. And bicyclists will not only share the trail with pedestrians, but also pedal side-by-side with cars, trucks and buses on each outer, 14-foot lane. Construction start is anticipated in late 2011. <b>
* Fair Lakes Interchange Project: </b>The Fairfax County Parkway will be widened within the existing median to six lanes — three in each direction — between I-66 and Route 50. But an interchange is also needed to handle the congestion and rush-hour backups. And now, the funding has finally come through to build this project that’s been on the county’s to-do list for years. Construction is anticipated to take about 2 1/2 years.
The signalized intersections at Fair Lakes Parkway and Monument Drive will be eliminated. And the additional lanes on the Fairfax County Parkway will improve traffic flow from south of I-66 to north of Rugby Road. A split-diamond, grade-separated interchange will have a free-flowing Fairfax County Parkway bridging over Fair Lakes Parkway and Monument Drive.
Fair Lakes Parkway will be widened to accommodate the necessary left-turn lanes for the interchange. Beginning at Fair Lakes Parkway, a multi-purpose trail is anticipated along the east side of Fairfax County Parkway with a connection to the existing trail at Rocky Run Stream Valley Park.
Because of safety concerns, North Lake Drive will be made a cul-de-sac so it no longer intersects with Fairfax County Parkway.