More flexibility sought for Landmark Mall redevelopment project

Advisory group members and the public take part in Alexandria’s re-planning process for redeveloping Landmark Mall.

A new planning process is underway for redevelopment of the Landmark Mall property to address changes requested by the Howard Hughes Corp. (HH) in the plan previously approved by the City of Alexandria.

The company is seeking more flexibility to accommodate the demands of the marketplace, said Mark Bulmash, HH senior vice president of development, at a Nov. 14 community meeting with the Eisenhower West/Landmark Van Dorn Implementation Advisory Group.

HH’s plans for the 51-acre site call for a walkable mixed-use town center with a grid of streets and a mix of retail, housing, civic uses, and open spaces that will attract residents from other areas. “It will be a place you want to be,” Bulmash said.

Mark Bulmash of HH

The current Landmark Mall site is designed around cars and presents huge barriers to pedestrians, said Jeff Farner, deputy director of the Alexandria Department of Planning and Zoning. “This is a real opportunity to stitch this back into the neighborhoods around it.”

The goal is to transform the area from being car-oriented to one that has walkable streets and is accessible via all modes of transportation, Farner said.

The city’s vision calls for Duke Street to become a tree-lined boulevard with smaller building setbacks and wider sidewalks – and possibly a new bridge over the street.

“I know everyone’s been frustrated that it’s taken a while, but it’s for the good,” said Bulmash about the lack of progress in redeveloping Landmark Mall. “The result is going to be a better plan.”

HH acquired a third of the site in 2010 from General Growth Properties, which excluded Sears and Macy’s. At that time, the company was planning to develop the part of the mall between those stores.

Alexandria approved that plan in 2013 and a revised plan in 2015. Since then, HH bought Macy’s and it now has an agreement to purchase Sears, so Alexandria needs to consider a new plan that calls for redeveloping the entire site.

“This is an opportunity to create a flexible plan that can react to shifts in the marketplace,” Bulmash said. “It’s important for us to get through this process so we can know what we can do and get the flexibility to do it.”

Having that flexibility means the company won’t have to keep going back to the city to get approval for changes, as long as it’s following the principles already agreed to. The project would retain the overall density in the earlier plan but instead of defining the amount of retail, office, and housing, HH would consider the interest of potential tenants.

Assuming the approval process goes smoothly, Bulmash said, demolition could start in a couple of years at the earliest.

James Farner (left) of the Alexandria’s Planning and Zoning Department.

Peter Crowley, an Alexandria-based planner with HH, outlined the elements that are staying the same from the previously approved plan: the grid of streets; a requirement for affordable housing, 3.5 acres of open space; civic spaces (such as a school or fire station); and a transit station.

What’s different, Crowley said, is a greater mix of uses throughout the site. Instead of having a particular area designated for office or housing use with some retail, the uses will be mixed up all over the site.

There would be “signature buildings,” at the corner of Duke Street and I-395 and along the interstate, with distinctive architecture that would help give the area “a sense of place.”

Crowley also talked about Landmark becoming an “activated public realm,” with outdoor dining, pedestrian-scaled places, an engaging streetscape, buildings with a variety of heights and scale, and open spaces with programming to draw the community, such as farmers markets or holiday celebrations.

In response to a question from the community, Bulmash said HH would be happy to consider adding cultural spaces to the site, but “we have to figure out how it fits in with the whole plan.” Noting that the Angelika Film Center is the key to the success of the Mosaic District, he said, “we will actively pursue” something like that.

While there had been discussions about relocating Inova’s Alexandria Hospital to the Landmark site a few months ago, Bulmash said, “there is no business deal with the hospital. If something materialized, we could accommodate it on site.”

Upcoming events planned by the City of Alexandria include an open house on Dec. 12, a community workshop on Jan. 26, and another community meeting on Feb. 27.

There will be public hearings before the Alexandria Planning Commission and City Council in April to consider an amendment to the Landmark Mall portion of the city’s Small Area Plan for Landmark/Van Dorn Corridor.