Mixed-use project proposed for Seven Corners
Eakin Properties Inc. submitted a rezoning application on Dec. 31 to construct 450 apartment units and 30,000 square feet of retail in Seven Corners.
The mixed-use project would replace New Grand Mart and Pistone’s Italian Inn, a restaurant that opened in 1974.
The 3.15-acre site is located at the Seven Corners interchange between Arlington Boulevard, Hillwood Avenue, E. Broad Street, and two office towers.
Eakin Properties proposes two 85-foot-tall buildings connected by a covered walkway, according to a statement of justification submitted to Fairfax County. The entrance would be on Hillwood Avenue.
Related story: Eight redevelopment projects proposed for Mason District
The project would include underground parking and a central publicly accessible outdoor plaza that could be used for flexible programming, such as farmers’ markets, concerts, pop-up retail opportunities, or other community events. Eakin is considering several amenity spaces for residents, including a pool and private courtyards.
The property is zoned C-7, which allows large-scale commercial and service uses aimed at a regional market. Eakin proposes rezoning the site to a PRM district, which permits high-density multifamily and mixed-use developments.
Related story: Funds approved for Seven Corners Ring Road
Eakin filed a Site-Specific Plan Amendment in 2022, which the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors added to the county’s work program in April 2023.
It was initially designated as a Tier 3 plan amendment, then upgraded to Tier 2 after the Seven Corners Ring Road Study was completed. The rezoning is anticipated to proceed concurrently with the pending plan amendment.
Eakin Properties is a family-run real estate development and investment firm founded in 1932. It still operates from its original office on S. Roosevelt Street in Falls Church, which is just one block from the proposed project. The company developed the site it wants to redevelop in the early 1950s.
The Grand Mart site used to be a Sym’s department store, and before that, a Jelleff’s women’s clothing store. The base of a former steeple on the Italian restaurant is a remnant of its time as a Howard Johnson’s.
I’m not sure how long you’ve been a longtime resident but Sym’s and Jellef’s were in the building closer to 7 which is now a gym. The Grand Mart was a Giant before, not clothing stores.
This however will add a lot of extra traffic to an area already congested at that intersection.
Exactly!
Yep. The Giant never reopened after the Hurricane Isabel power outage in Sept. 2003.
450 apartments in the 7 Corners interchange?! They gotta be kidding. Get ready for it– they will tell us that this development will not generate more car trips and actually make traffic better.
Supervisor Jimenez is at it again. He has sold out to developers. Penny said no, but Jimenez has approved 3 large developments with no contributions to roads or schools. Disgrace. I will also miss Pistones.
He should be recalled
Would the plan to get the road improvements completed first before starting on a MONSTER build the size that Eakin is proposing. Until the traffic flow is addressed having the sight go under the builders control get some of the existing problems addressed.
I fully support this! More housing, more modern mixed use development in this area is needed.
This sucks! The traffic is already horrendous and this will make it so much worse! How can you get rid of Pistones?!?!?!? Wth is happening?
How can we oppose this project. It’s disgrace.
Absolutely not! There are already too many major residential projects in the works for Falls Church and it’s significantly changing the area- not in a good way. If people wanted to live in areas that dense, they would live in Arlington and Tysons. The traffic and density will be a huge negative, and it will only arable the problem of driving out established independent businesses (which Falls Church is beloved for). STRONGLY OPPOSE THIS
It’s like 450 bad ideas stacked on one another at the apex of a traffic bottle neck choking the life out of community and civilization. Like making hell a little deeper and a lot hotter. It’s the perfect project. Exactly what you’d expect the Fairfax County government to conceive. Kudos.
I agree with all those opposing this terrible plan. As a Kaiser Permanente cancer patient who already must fight the terrible traffic backups at Seven Corners in able to get to appointments, I can’t bear to think of how much more difficult it could be to make that drive.
Traffic at 7 Corners is unbearable, and every single day the congestion leads to blocked traffic due to cars blocking lanes with green lights. It is inconceivable that this project could be approved. It will bring traffic at 7 Corners to an absolute standstill. Whether more housing is needed or not is not the question; WHERE it is needed is the question. CERTAINLY NOT @ 7 Corners! Who could possibly think this might work? The traffic alone during construction will be the 7th circle of hell; but with 450 housing units added? We’ll have to add more concentric circles to hell.
Bad idea. Traffic on Hillwood approaching/leaving 7 corners is bad already. We need more housing near Metro, not where people have to drive thru 7 corners to get to it!
I thought VDOT had a study to reconfigure the corners traffic. Before they approve any new development, VDOT should get its work done first. No point in getting stuck with a bad traffic reconfiguration because the BoS approved redevelopment before VDOT’s plan. A portion of that corner property might be necessary to “fix” traffic patterns.
Has the area added more schools? “We” keep adding in more high density residential areas but without any thought at all as to where kids will go to school and addressing the traffic woes.
Supervisor Jimenez is an embarrassment to Mason District residents.
I think this is a great idea. Seven Corners is centrally located, Pistone’s is old and crusty, and those new apartment buildings really spruce up the landscape.
Supervisor Andres Jimenez is truly doing a wonderful job for Mason. I think he would make a good Governor one day.
Is this sarcasm? The traffic in 7 Corners is gridlocked most of the time. There is no traffic enforcement and the drivers are getting worse. And Pistones is not “crusty” at all.
For sanity’s sake we all hope you are joking. He has been bought off by 4 developments (Food Star, Pistones, The Block, and Pro Computers sites,) check his financial filings. All of those pending zoning amendments come with no traffic or school solutions, believe me folks are trying to hold him accountable. And he has declined meeting with more constituents than he has met with, his staff openly tells callers he is only available one day a week. He may only have one remaining staff member from when he took office less than 3 years ago. He would make a good retiree one day.
More housing without consideration to the schools in mason sounds out of touch with reality. Mason district has the most over capacity school in Fairfax County. Disappointing.
This project is just another way for the builders to make money by destroying the character of our neighborhoods. Of course it will make traffic at 7 Corners even more horrendous. And taking away our Pistones?!? A horrible idea.
We can’t imagine the LONG NEGATIVE LIST this development would add to the 7 Corners intersection. You realize SEVEN roads all meet there and grid-locked traffic is a huge problem NOW! Add us to the list of those OPPOSED to a 450 apt building sitting in the middle of 7 Corners!