Newly resurrected redevelopment plans for an abandoned Columbia Pike strip mall have leaders optimistic that an end to a long and embarrassing saga is in sight.
Developer Toll Brothers filed plans last week to rebuild the 2600 block of Columbia Pike as a mixed-use project with 262 housing units and 16,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space. It’s the successor to The Elliot, a planned development at the Fillmore Gardens Shopping Center that fell through last year after a ground-floor grocery tenant backed out.
The new proposal is on a similar scale to the old one. However, while the former plan called for a ground floor dominated by one large grocer, the new one envisions four mid-sized retail tenants on the ground floor.
“The Fillmore Shopping Center owners have worked hard for well over a decade to bring a top-notch project to this site and are excited for the Columbia Pike-Penrose neighborhood,” Harald Mangold, a representative for property owner Fillmore Center LLC, told ARLnow. “Fingers crossed, all comes together on this second effort.”
The Fillmore Gardens Shopping Center, once a thriving hub of local business, lost almost all its commercial tenants after the Arlington County Board approved plans for The Elliot back in March 2022. The project stalled indefinitely, however, when the grocer — likely an Amazon Fresh — pulled out in December of that year.
The strip mall deteriorated over the coming months and years, withstanding vandalism, vermin infestations and a small fire as the project’s timeline pushed back further and further. Arlington County at last confirmed in May 2024 that the project was kaput.
The empty structure has remained a sore subject in the neighborhood since then. For many Columbia Pike advocates, it’s a symbol, like the interminable roadwork, of the drag’s ongoing troubles.
Alex Sakes, president of the Penrose Neighborhood Association, sees the newly filed plans as a chance to finally rid the neighborhood of a longstanding source of disappointment and frustration.
“I think the majority of people will probably be excited, and … the neighborhood will be a lot better off having this than the continued shell of what once was,” he told ARLnow.
Andrew Schneider, executive director of the Columbia Pike Partnership, said he’s excited about the new developer and believes the most recent iteration on the site’s development plans is “a real step forward towards long-term stability and opportunity.”
“I think that the applicant, Toll Brothers … is really committed to doing this right, to listening to the community, to bringing in strong retail tenants that will add to the vibrancy of that part of the Pike — and I really just think that this is a great next step for the vision of Columbia Pike,” he said.
A neighborhood meeting with the developer, which did not respond to a request for comment on this story, is scheduled for next Tuesday. While Sakes is eager to see the project moving forward, he still has a lot of questions about the proposed community benefits.
The Elliot’s planned benefits had included dedicating 13,580 square feet of land to expand Penrose Square, as well as the construction of a new segment of S. Cleveland Street.
Schneider, meanwhile, looks forward to the addition of more housing on Columbia Pike as well as the return of functional retail bays to this site.
The Columbia Pike Partnership had previously hoped to work with Scott Management to fill the existing bays with short-term tenants, but renovation costs didn’t pencil out.
Schneider is heartened by Toll Brothers’ decision to invest in this site despite uncertainty in the region-wide economy. He hopes that this bodes well for future development along Columbia Pike over the next few years.
“Let’s be honest, we are not sitting in necessarily a boom-type era of development,” he said. “And yet we are attracting a very large and very well-renowned developer to come and invest a very significant amount of money to build new homes for people to move and live on the Pike — and to me, what’s a better endorsement than that?”
As for Mangold, he said he hopes for “a fast approval process from Arlington.”
“Everyone I have spoken with has expressed full support and is very excited about this new development,” he said.
Mangold added that anyone interested in parking spaces or unimproved storage space should still consider contacting him.
