Economic pilot program can spur revitalization of Bailey’s Crossroads
Bailey’s Crossroads has a significantly higher population density and lower household income than the average for Fairfax County. It has strong retail performance despite some vacancies; a decent, but not great, level of walkability; and a lack of parks.
Those are some of the key takeaways from a draft profile of the community by the Fairfax County Department of Economic Initiatives (DEI).
Strategy for place-making
The DEI is working on a “place-led economic development initiative” to consist of profiles of 26 special planning areas and 86 shopping centers – with a focus on retail businesses and commercial activity.
The profiles could be used to evaluate how a commercial district is functioning and who it is serving; identify marketing opportunities; and encourage community empowerment, said Laura Baker, catalytic development manager at the DEI, during a Dec. 12 meeting of the Board of Supervisors’ Economic Initiatives Committee.
In the first phase of the pilot program, the DEI developed templates for profiles of two vastly different areas: the 431-acre Bailey’s Crossroads Community Business Center and the 4.2-acre University Mall Shopping Center in Fairfax.
The profiles are designed to serve multiple audiences, Baker said, such as policymakers, businesses, residents, and relevant organizations.
The profile templates have a section on the business environment showing the number of businesses and employees, average rents, and industries in the area. They also cover recent investments, insights, business highlights, additional resources needed, how public/private partnerships can help, and demographics.
A tool for redevelopment
The Bailey’s Crossroads/Seven Corners Revitalization Corporation (BC7RC) sees the profile as a step in revitalizing Bailey’s Crossroads and transforming it into a place where people will want to linger, said BC7RC President and former county planner Mike Van Atta.
The document for Bailey’s Crossroads shows the community has a healthy commercial environment with affordable rents for retail spaces, Van Atta said.
Bailey’s Crossroads shoppers tend to have larger household sizes, tend to have lower median ages and incomes, are more vulnerable economically, and tend to be value-oriented customers. Average retail spending is lower than the county average.
Visitor behavior has changed since the pandemic, Van Atta noted. The weekday lunchtime crowd has significantly declined, as more people are working from home, but weekend activity is still strong.
While it is walkable to some extent and has bus access, “there is a lack of connectivity overall and a lack of community gathering spaces, particularly a lack of green space,” Van Atta said.
The Bailey’s Crossroads profile also highlights recent investments, such as the Alta Crossroads multifamily project under construction on Columbia Pike; Mission Lofts, the live/work project on Columbia Pike; the ongoing office conversions at Skyline; and the upgrades at Hogge Park.
Data-driven metrics
It’s helpful to have this information in one place, Van Atta says. “The profile provides data-driven metrics to begin to reinforce the anecdotal observations we’re seeing in our discussions with stakeholders.”
“The community is very hungry for reinvestment and placemaking along with a desire to maintain its diversity and avoid displacement moving forward,” he said. “We see a branding opportunity to embrace the community’s unique identity through the celebration and marketing of its commercial vibrancy and the people who live there.”
“We’re very optimistic this profile can serve as a platform for further discussions about the direction of Bailey’s Crossroads and BC7RC’s role in shaping that future,” he said.
According to Van Atta, the profile is a critical first step that can lead to action items, such as working with the commercial sector to prevent vacancies, improving walkability and connectivity, and creating green spaces and gathering areas.
The main issue for revitalizing Bailey’s Crossroads, he said, is “how do we create a sense of place?”
As a resident of the area, I can say that this area is ripe for re-development. The entire Skyline area was built with the expectation that a metro rail would connect through the Baileys area, so Skyline ended up looking a lot like Crystal City (both developed by Charles Smith). Yet there is no single “attraction” in the area that can draw people in (other than retail which is available elsewhere). Putting a lot of new expensive apartments won’t improve this. Considering that the closest FC Rec Center is clear across the county, why not build a complex in Baileys Crossroads, where there are so many vacant lots adjacent to Colombia pike.
Concur a nice new and LARGE recreation center would be nice but there is no land or money for it. It would need to be a large center to meet the needs (pool, basketball, soccer fields, tennis courts, racquet ball, pickle ball, weight room, plus community rooms for other activities at a minimum). Another challenge is the private sector similar amenities nearby. Furthermore, previous deals by county removed the land it had for leverage to even try this idea (Altra noted above). Oh, well; developers win again with support from the board of supervisors elected with their approval & fiscal support. One last point, Metro trains will not come down the Pike ever, nor will there be dedicated bus lanes. Arlington made choices that closed that forever due to development and now exorbitantly expensive to undo.
The failure to connect Skyline with metro lies with Gerry Connolly while he was a Farifax County political leader. Rather than do the right thing, he allowed Mason District to block metros connection to Skyline because quite frankly they did not want the riff raff commuting into gods country. Well the unintended consequences is that Mason is now a low income aging and blighted community full of the riff raff they had once feared.
Crossroads Center is terribly under leased, Trader Joes and Best Buy prop up the other retail center that is thankfully a busy place; there are homeless all over the place and not an inviting shopping center experience when that are so many other choices. And 40 years later there are sill no viable mass transit options that can get you from Mason to DC in a reasonable commute time. The 16L express bus has been discontinued since the pandemic.
‘Revitalization’ generally equals gentrification. I would be all for development if it didn’t mean pushing out low income families.
I moved to this area fifteen years ago because I love the cultural diversity and mix of people of all incomes. I’ve seen far too many families pushed out of Arlington east of 7 and I am hoping this will not bleed down Columbia Pike.
Keep it affordable. If you can’t, stay away.
You never took economics. You can have it nasty and affordable, or nice and expensive. Pick one.
The only thing missing there is a movie theatre. 😊
A movie theater in Bailey’s would be great
There used to be two in “skyline mall” before the whole mall became a target and one where Party Depot was. Spent a lot of time as teenagers walking to skyline, watching movies, playing video games, eating junk food. Good times.
There was also a drive in theater where the Value City Furniture is.
And then the airplane hit the screen and things were never quite the same….
Fly-in theater…?
On page 56 of Fairfax County’s comprehensive plan for the area you can see that they made plans for there to be a town center starting from Carlin Springs Rd where the REI is and ending near S Jefferson St where Edy’s is. They also want to redesign the intersection where Seminary Rd connects to Columbia Pike and redevelop that rundown area of Seminary Rd thats west of Carlin Springs Rd.
https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/planning-development/sites/planning-development/files/assets/compplan/area1/baileys.pdf
I love living in Bailey’s but I think theres so much potential here to make it a much nicer and better place to live. I get the sense that this place will be redeveloped and improved alot in the next 20 or so years. Fingers crossed.
The greatest catalyst for development would be a Metro line along Rte 7 connecting Tyson’s to Alexandria, and via branches, Pentagon City or Crystal City. Absent that level of commitment, this area of Fairfax County will remain blighted. Let’s be honest–a Metro line would bring some gentrification, but it would also creat enormous opportunities for the communities along Rte 7 who have very few and very poor options for transportation. Given the 20 years of talk about redeveloping Seven CornersC, I’m not optimistic, but with some community organizing, maybe the inertia can be overcome. It will take coordination, but it’s worth it.
I understand your skepticism, but massive gentrification and development of Seven Corners is just a stone’s throw away in Arlington along Columbia Pike, which is undergoing a massive transformation of growth and development. It’s slowly flowing down Columbia Pike into Fairfax County.
If they even had frequent, quick, and reliable shuttle buses to Metro stops, maybe that would be adequate. For communing to work, transportation must be predictable. For shopping in our home area, nothing beats driving – unless,. God forbid, parking gets Arlingtonized.
Providence Recenter is about two miles away and could be renovated easier than putting up a new center.
The vast number of people to use a county recreation center (RC) in 7 corners, BC, and skyline don’t have the means to get to Providence RC. Goes back to lower income levels (thus why a county RC is serving that community), and bus transportation challenges. Not sure if there is enough land at Providence, but that is not helping Mason or the afore communities in Fairfax. Here is hoping the new Mason Supervisor is reading and listening.