Falls Church and business leaders celebrated the reopening of a renovated police substation at the Eden Center yesterday (Wednesday).
“This really represents a recommitment,” Mayor Letty Hardi said at the ceremony. “We are really excited. Public safety works best when it is rooted in the community.”
The Falls Church Police Department has operated a small satellite office out of the strip mall for several decades, but in recent years, “it’s aged and it was underutilized,” Police Chief Shahram Fard said.
At the department’s request, mall owner Capital Commercial Properties renovated the space to meet 21st-century policing needs.
“It’s definitely changed a lot for the better. It’s now a functional, professional space,” Fard said. “It looks small but there’s a lot of people who can fit in. It’s very efficient.”
Fard credited deputy chief Jiwan Chhetri with coordinating the effort on behalf of the city.
Graham Eddy, a vice president and associate general counsel for Capital Commercial Properties, said the return of a permanent police presence in the mall — and the eastern portion of the city — represents “a win-win.”
“We love working with the police,” Eddy said. “Anything to make Eden Center safer, we’re all for that.”
Fard said officers would be encouraged to be at the satellite center frequently. Two dedicated parking spaces will provide easy access.
The broader goal, Fard said, is continuing to “build relationships with the business owners and shoppers, build trust through consistent presence.”
Alan Frank, senior vice president and senior counsel of Capital Commercial Properties, said the current relationship between the mall and city police is “better than it’s ever been, and I want to keep it that way.”
Following the fall of South Vietnam in 1975, a large wave of refugees opened shops in Clarendon. They were drawn by low rents, due in part to the construction of the Orange Line from Rosslyn to Ballston.
The opening of the Clarendon Metro station in late 1979 and subsequent redevelopment of the neighborhood over the next two decades sent many of those Vietnamese businesses to Eden Center, located at a point near Seven Corners where Arlington, Fairfax and Falls Church converge.
Instead of migrating further west in subsequent years, many of the businesses planted roots. In their honor, Falls Church officials last year ceremonially renamed the stretch of Wilson Blvd where the center is located as “Saigon Blvd,” after the former capital of South Vietnam.
During the March 18 ceremony, police were presented with a flag of South Vietnam, which will be hung alongside the U.S. flag at the substation.
The facility is located in the Saigon West indoor portion of the expansive mall, with a street address of 6795 Wilson Blvd. It is adjacent to Kien Giang Quan restaurant.
