Redevelopment projects in Falls Church continue to roll along without any major setbacks or warning signs.
“Development interest in the city remains steady,” Paul Stoddard, Falls Church’s director of planning, told ARLnow. He said city officials were dealing with “the usual volume of calls exploring ideas for possible future applications.”
It has been a whirlwind decade for Falls Church — before, during and after Covid — which has seen a significant amount of mixed-use development. Much but not all of the work has been centered on Broad Street (Route 7), the city’s major east-west thoroughfare.
Next up for city leaders to consider is the proposal by Quinn Enterprises LLC to transform parcels at 350 and 360 S. Washington Street and 303 S. Maple Avenue. The applicant submitted a site plan in October, which is now moving through the review process.
If approved, the proposal will result in 223 senior-living units plus ground-floor retail and restaurant use on a site of 1.85 acres.
It’s just the latest in a series of projects helping transform the Little City from a bedroom community with aging office and commercial spaces, benefiting from a prime location between Tysons and Arlington.
The influx of new development has filled the city’s tax coffers. That has helped homeowners, as the growth has allowed Falls Church to be one of the few local jurisdictions to continue cutting real-estate tax rates to at least partially offset rising housing assessments.
Among other key projects in various stages of construction:
- Broad & Washington: This redevelopment of a number older buildings at the key intersection in the city has its certificate of occupancy. Preparatory work by the anchor tenant, Whole Foods, to open its store continues. The site also will be home to apartments and to Creative Cauldron, a performing-arts group that will relocate from its current space.
- Founders Row: The major redevelopment projects on W. Broad Street has its certificate of occupancy. Some portions are occupied, and leasing efforts continue When everything opens, the will feature a mix of apartments, senior-living residences and restaurant/retail space.
- Founders Row II: Located across W. Broad Street from Founders Row at the intersection of West Street, construction continues. The parcel previously was home to a Rite Aid and carpet store. It will include apartments and ground-floor retail.
- West Falls: Located along W. Broad Street near the Falls Church-Fairfax border, a condominium building, medical office and hotel have been completed and work continues on other parts of the parcel, including a senior-living facility and apartments.
- Stratford Motor Lodge: Though not a major redevelopment, the plan to turn a vacant motel into a restaurant and wine bar is in the review stage. Previous attempts to use the site, located on W. Broad Street across from Harris Teeter, for senior living or a convenience store fell through.
Just over the city’s western border in Fairfax County, redevelopment of the former Virginia Tech/City of Falls Church property adjacent to the West Falls Church Metro station is moving through the development process. The mixed-use development is a joint venture of HITT and the developer Rushmark Properties.
Whether a strong appetite of city leaders for continued growth continues is an open question. During the recent special election for a vacant City Council seat, eventual winner Laura Downs said she would prefer city leaders pause and assess the impact of the past decade’s flurry of activity before moving forward again.
While positioning herself as an economic-development booster, “we need to take a breather,” Downs said at a September candidate forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters and Village Preservation and Improvement Society.
One person who won’t be part of future discussions is Paul Stoddard, the city’s director of planning. He will be leaving at the end of November to join the planning staff of the Alexandria city government.
Stoddard began his Falls Church career as an intern in 2012 and was tapped as planning director in 2018. In a note to staff announcing his pending departure, City Manager Wyatt Shields called Stoddard “responsive, intelligent, patient, empathetic and visionary — a truly effective public servant.”
