Bond Vet, a New York City-based chain of primary and urgent care clinics for cats and dogs, is setting up shop in Clarendon.
Construction in the space at 2871 Clarendon Blvd, in the former Lilly Pulitzer storefront, is underway. Bond Vet aims to open its doors to local dogs and cats and their humans this summer.
The storefront, part of The Crossing Clarendon retail center, has been vacant since the purveyor of preppy pink clothing packed its portmanteau and left last May. Bond Vet signed a deal to take over the space late last year, Director of Real Estate and Development Lauren Heuser tells ARLnow.
“Things are moving forward,” Heuser said. “We’re actually ahead of pace from what we anticipated from a permitting standpoint, which never happens.”
The new location is part of Bond Vet’s first expansion outside of the New York area, where it has opened nearly a dozen locations since 2019. The full-service clinics offer urgent care and routine care, including wellness exams, vaccines and spay and neuter services, as well as surgeries, dental cleanings and international health certificates.
Outside of Clarendon, its foray into the Mid-Atlantic region includes Bethesda, D.C.’s 14th Street NW corridor and the Capitol Hill neighborhood. The company is also headed north into Boston, and will have 25 total locations by the end of 2022.
“[The expansion] was on the horizon ahead of the pandemic,” Heuser said. “During the pandemic, the development pace slowed down a bit, but we picked up again as soon as we felt like we could.”
Bond Vet leaders chose The Crossing Clarendon because they liked the new tenants Regency Centers has nabbed for the rebranded shopping center.
“We like to be part of a rich context with many different types of tenants, rather than going into an area where you’re only going to find soft goods or medical offices,” Heuser said. “We felt that this was a good opportunity for that.”
Recent tenant announcements for The Crossing Clarendon include New York-based seafood eatery Seamore’s, fitness center Life Time, and District Dogs, a daycare and overnight boarding facility for pooches.
“We’re certainly not a daycare but we like to create symbiotic relationships with pet care providers within the neighborhood,” Heuser noted.
Bond Vet is the third option for pet owners whose animal companion needs care sooner than what a primary veterinarian could provide but in a different setting than an emergency room, she says.
“We believe it provides enough availability for same day appointments across locations, and it keeps pets that don’t need to be in the emergency room out of the ER,” Heuser said.
(The pet-centric neighborhood will now have all three veterinary options covered, with Arlies award winners Clarendon Animal Care at 3000 10th Street N. and Caring Hands Animal Hospital at 2601-A Wilson Blvd, in addition to the new doggy daycare and a locally-based dog food brand.)
Bond Vet’s expansion comes as veterinary jobs and services have been in high demand over the last two years, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association. The association says urgent care clinics appear to be taking on a substantial portion of that demand.
“From a competitive landscape, what we’re seeing all over the country is a high demand for veterinary care,” Heuser said. “So many people got new pets through the pandemic, and that trend has not slowed down.”