After three decades, a family-owned Italian restaurant has announced plans to relocate as its current home is slated for redevelopment.
Il Radicchio closed over the weekend at 1801 Clarendon Blvd, where it has served wood-fired pizzas, pasta and other Italian fare since 1994. Its closure comes as the site at Wilson Blvd and N. Rhodes Street, roughly between Rosslyn and Courthouse, is set for redevelopment into an apartment building.
“Il Radicchio is moving to a new location,” the restaurant said in an Instagram post over the weekend. “We are deeply grateful for your support, your loyalty, and the countless memories shared around our table over the years. This is not goodbye. We will be back soon in a new home, ready to continue serving the food and hospitality you know and love.”
It’s unclear where Il Radicchio will reopen, but employees told ARLnow it is being planned somewhere in Clarendon. The restaurant’s owners were not available for comment.
Il Radicchio was one of two restaurants at the one-acre site, alongside the former Rhodeside Grill that shuttered in February. The site was also home to the headquarters of the National Science Teacher Association, the nonprofit that occupied a four-story, 48,000-square-foot office there.
The restaurants and office building are expected to be demolished after D.C. developer The Fortis Cos. announced in 2023 that it had purchased the property from NSTA for $14 million. There, the developer intends to construct an eight-story, 188-unit apartment building with 12,000-square-feet of ground floor retail, according to the project’s county webpage.
At the time of the sale, real estate company CBRE described the property as “one of the last commercial development sites in the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor.”
