A $650 million Falls Church development project is approaching some key milestones as 400 units of housing are slated to welcome their first tenants in coming months.
Phase One of the West Falls Development Project, which seeks to redevelop 10 acres of land at the former site of George Mason High School, is nearing completion, Mary Beth Avedesian, Senior Vice President of Development at Hoffman & Associates, shared at a public event Monday night.
“This is the largest development to date in the city of Falls Church,” Avedesian said. “This 10-acre site will contain an office building, a hotel, for-sale condos, an apartment building, two above-grade garages, a future senior living building, ground floor retail throughout all the vertical components, and a large commons at the heart of the project programmed for community events.”
The Alder, an apartment building at 136 W. Falls Station Blvd, has begun accepting applications for one- and two-bedroom apartments and studios. Currently, 112 of the project’s 400 units are listed as available on the building’s webpage.
Also new to the development is The Oak, an 11-story, 126-unit condominium building which celebrated a grand opening on Sunday after its condos went on sale in March.
Six percent of all housing units in the West Falls Development Project are designated as affordable dwelling units.
The development project wrapped up construction on a set of medical offices and a 362-space parking garage earlier this year. This is all in addition to the 146-room Hilton Home2 Suites hotel, which announced its grand opening at 171 W. Falls Station Blvd in May.
Experience Senior Living plans to break ground on a 215-unit senior living building this fall. The building, called The Reserve at Falls Church, was first announced last year. Construction will take a little over two years, Avedesian said.
Restaurants SEOULSPICE, BurgerFi and Mason’s Famous Lobster Rolls, meanwhile, have set their sights on opening in the development’s ground-floor retail bays in the next few months.
Tierra Encantada, a Spanish immersion early childhood education program, previously was planning a fall 2024 opening at 175 Haycock Road, but now appears to be targeting winter 2025. Another anticipated retailer, upscale grocery chain The Fresh Market, is expected to open in an approximately 40,000-square-foot space on The Alder’s ground floor in the next few years.
The public-private partnership between the city and Hoffman, alongside other development projects, seeks to turn the land between Route 7 and the West Falls Church Metro station into “an economic development engine for both Falls Church and the neighboring Fairfax County,” Avedesian said. The 10-acre site previously contributed no tax revenue to the city, she noted.
As work on West Falls moves forward, development at nearby Founders Row II is slated to conclude by the end of this year. This project is set to bring 280 apartments, 5,000 square feet of co-working space, over 22,000 square feet of ground floor retail space and a parking garage to the corner of West Street and Broad Street, across the street from the first Founders Row.
