Eastgate apartment project advances
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors is set to vote Oct. 24 on a rezoning application for the Eastgate mixed-use apartment project on John Marr Drive in Annandale.
The six-story building would have 280 units and 11,200 square feet of ground-floor retail.
It would replace a portion of the Eastgate Shopping Center, including The Block food hall. Property owner Brian Kim, the developer of the shopping center on the former Kmart site, is a partner in the apartment project.
It would be the first large multifamily building in Annandale in decades and is expected to spur further revitalization.
The application proposes changing the current zoning designation, C-6 (community retail commercial), to PRM (planned residential mixed use).
The project would include nearly 24,000 square feet of urban park space, including a publicly accessible civic plaza and linear park. It also includes a structured parking garage, an interior courtyard restricted to residents, and an improved streetscape along John Marr Drive.
Related story: Apartments would displace The Block
The Planning Commission recommended approval earlier this month, after agreeing to reduce the required number of parking spaces from 1.6 to 1.34 spaces per dwelling unit. The parking reduction is based on the availability of bus connections to Metro stations.
The proposed development would be served by Columbia Elementary School, Holmes Middle School, and Annandale High School. County officials estimate the building would have 30 school-age students and they say the affected schools will have sufficient capacity to accommodate the enrollment growth. The applicant has agreed to contribute $14,956 per student.
Long-term plans for the property call for replacing the remaining shopping center with more housing.
I wonder if the business owners investing time and money into that shopping center know their days are numbered. All of this revitalization just to axe it? Confusing..
Sad on some of those businesses, but real delusional is the reduction in parking AND the low estimate of 30 new kids to schools. If rents are high enough to reduce the kid count to 30, then a two parent family is driving two cars to work from Annandale – they are not taking the bus to metro to work. If the rents are affordable & people are taking the bus to metro for work, then you should expect more kids. This is the practical business model impacts of high density development. I’m sure the developers want higher rent & no kid tenants, more profitable. However that’s not viable for the area as those prospective tenants live closer into DC, and within walking distance of metro (not bus to metro travel for work).
Saddest part is we who live here in Annandale now get burdens by county and developer design that doesn’t help traffic or our local schools; and further decreases the quality of life in the community. Keep voting for the democrats that run or want to run the board of supervisors- you will keep getting this in Mason District – as this has been their approach for years.
I don’t like hearing the shopping will be replaced by housing; but maybe that will generate more shopping.
If the entire shopping center is being replaced by apartments where will the current shops and restaurants go?
The article clearly states there will be 11,200 sq ft of retail space on the ground floor.
I’m a little surprised by the estimate that only 30 school aged children would live in the 280 apt building. The officials who did that estimate have never driven by an apartment complex when a school stops and picks up one entire busload of kids at one stop. They are seriously underestimating the # of kids. It’s sad for the small business owners who have put money into building up their shops/restaurants only to have them torn down. I wonder if they knew that they’d be evicted within a few years when they signed their leases.
It says ground floor retail shopping space
The apartment development on Columbia Pike in Bailey’s Crossroads currently under construction included ground floor retail and they then axed that portion of the development, blaming COVID. Developers can promise all sorts of things to placate the surrounding community, and they have some flexibility to change their plans.
I wouldn’t count on the vibrant retail and dining portion surviving this redevelopment. We will be left with traffic and more residents long after the developers have cashed out.
We should not have 6 story residential buildings. This is a foothold for building up higher density.
Welcome to the future. You have to find places that liberals have not heard of, and/or couldn’t survive in, in order to avoid this increased density and high crime rates.
Liberals hate rugged individualism. They need to be around others for support and constant validation.
Conservatives tend to stand alone. My family understands this.
For instance, my son was traversing arduous terrain, locating, harvesting, and processing large game when he was 7 years old.
He knows maritime navigation and can tie about 50 knots. He is well-positioned to withstand our country’s self sabotage.
Most liberals couldn’t tell a bore snake from a garter. I say let woke capital build multi family units and price everyone out of the market. Those that have skills outside the city aren’t going to look so backwards in the next 10-20 years.
What a pile of crap this is. I consider myself extremely liberal and I am not for increasing density or most of the things this BOS or the planners run amuck are espousing. It is all about money and keeping the developers happy, and I completely resent the lip service given to the environment in this county. I feel sorry for your son having to become a survivalist at such a young age. But I do recognize crazy when I read it.
Look, I’m a suburbanite but I think speaking for trees is crazier than learning about the outdoors. And you presumably spend time outside and you have no rebuttal to Ed’s point, thereby reinforcing everything he said. Lol.
Au contraire! Plenty of crazy there to address, but it isn’t worth wasting oxygen on.
Said the person who couldn’t substantiate their thinking, when asked to expand.
Yet that comment made you evaluate your preparedness for the unexpected. And you realize you fail. Try speaking to the trees less, and caring for your family more.
It would interesting to know what other shopping options there would be in Annandale besides pharmacys and grocery stores.
Vape shops. And thrift stores.
Why do they have to ruin a good vibe? Go raze KidsChoice and build your apartments there.
Phenomenal news! I’m really exited about this project. Although there are some neat businesses in Eastgate, the shopping center looks so archaic and 1969. People visiting the area wonder why this area seems so outdated, sluggish, dusty, and moribund compared to the modern dynamism of other areas inside the Beltway. The massive sea of asphalt parking at Eastgate is also aesthetically brutal and environmentally unsound. Less vast parking lots is a great thing. Moreover, that area really needs new, dynamic mixed-use developments. I am also glad they will be able to integrate The Block into the new development! Let’s get this baby under construction!
I’m not a fan of this project. The school age children estimate is too low. The parking requirements are too low. The traffic in that area is already a mess and I don’t hear anything about that solution in this article. The Block is a great vibe. I hope they keep that in the retail space but I’m sure that will change to corporate money instead of local.
This is crazy. The retailers there are thriving now the board wants to put them out of business to put more housings? Sounds like the board is being paid off by the builders or they have stake in the build.
The developers will have purchased the land from the landowner FOR the development. The one that currently rents to those tenants? Yeah, he is the one making the money. He REQUESTED this project. If any one bothered to look at the Annandale CDC plan – you know, the comprehensive plan that for decades has guided any hopes for new development in Annandale – this exact form of development has been the goal all along. The community (us), the Planning Commission (us), and our supervisors – Democrat and Republican, historically (us) – have supported this approach. What we CAN do is to make sure that what is built aligns with our plans.
The K-Mart being gone has helped start a revitalization of Annandale. The new restaurants in that mall are great. The grocery store is amazing. Putting people “downtown” can help this trend. I just hope the proposed building has some architectural features that make it aesthetically pleasing, so that it ages well, and doesn’t look like a 1950’s box. They should require that the vast parking lot be regraded with a storm-water drainage pond at one end, along with trees planted throughout the expanse of asphalt. If not, then the parking lot should be zoned for solar, with parking underneath the panels. We also need a hotel of some sort. We need better bike paths for e-bikes, and we should have the County deploy Google’s “Project Green Light” to improve traffic flow. We are all fortunate to live in Annandale: It’s clean, and we have some killer restaurants and phenomenal Korean bakeries.
I love your enthusiasm.
So all the businesses that signed leases got cheated. Nobody in the Block is going to be able to afford to return to the lower level retail space.
I am curious. Have you seen the leases for the businesses? They could have been for any amount of time with any number of caveats. I am pretty sure that if those businesses were “cheated” that they would have sufficient grounds for some sort of civil settlement and that the developer would be aware of this. We also have no real idea of the timeline for the proposed development. It could be rezoned and then sit like it is for a decade or more – like several other lots in Annandale. Have you actually spoken to the owners of the Block to see what their plans are? .
They should just build the apts on top of the new retail where the old Wendy’s was located and leave the old Kmart part alone. Of course they won’t. These mixed use sights generally have very little outdoor parking just garages that patrons share with residents. The retail gets used mainly by the residents which is cool for them as they don’t have to travel. But the overall ease for the people driving in is pretty low. They just built this type of property in Fairfax Circle and lthe retail looks way underutilized.