The Ballston Macy’s store is no more.
The retailer shuttered within the past couple of weeks, after a store closing sale that lasted about two months. Now it’s just a matter of time until the building is torn down.
A planned redevelopment of the site as a high-rise with over 500 apartments and a grocery store is expected to begin later this year, we’re told.
“We are currently working through the processing of project permits and approvals,” said a spokesperson for the developer, Insight Property Group. “We are hoping for a later year start.”
At the very latest, the developer has until the end of 2025 to file for building permits at 685 N. Glebe Road, county spokesperson Elise Cleva said. That’s when the site plan that the Arlington County Board approved in December 2022 expires.
If that were to happen, Insight Property Group, which first proposed its development plan back in 2021, would have to go through the entire site plan review process again.
In place of the Macy’s, the developer plans to build a 16-story, 553-unit apartment complex that would include 45,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor amenities, 2,000 square feet of retail space and a yet-to-be-named “organic grocery store.” The building would be LEED Gold certified and include on-site solar and “biophilic landscaping.”
The planned development has been a source of some debate, with some civic associations opposing a residential high-rise of this scale in this location, which is just two blocks from the Ballston Metro station but along two busy streets with some parking access challenges.
Other critics have argued that the development should include more affordable units.
As for the Macy’s, the Ballston department store was one of five locations identified to close in 2024 as the company aimed to cut 2,350 jobs.