Planning Commission approves redevelopment project for Graham Park Plaza

Graham Park Plaza.

The Fairfax County Planning Commission on April 5 voted to recommend that the Board of Supervisors approved a proposal for a mixed-use development in Graham Park Plaza. [UPDATE: The BoS approved the proposal April 10.]

Federal Realty, the owner of the property, wants to build a four-story multifamily building with 210 apartments and 10,500 square feet of community-serving retail on the ground floor.

The project would be on an 18-acre site at the western end of the shopping center, which is currently occupied by a furniture store, two-screen movie theater, other stores, and underutilized offices.

The BoS had already approved an amendment to the Comprehensive Plan in December 2016 for a larger mixed-use project with 248 apartments. Since then, Federal Realty, downsized its redevelopment plans. It is now seeking a rezoning and approval of a final development plan.

The Planning and Zoning staff approved the project with the exception of a proposal for a new alternative access point on Arlington Boulevard. The Planning Commission disagreed, saying as long as the new access point meets the Virginia Department of Transportation’s requirements, it should be part of the plan.

David Gill, Federal Realty’s attorney, said Graham Park Plaza, like other aging auto-oriented strip malls, has been hurt by the growth of online retail and redeveloping the site is challenging because it’s not in an activity center and not near Metro. The redevelopment project “could be a model of how we do retail repositioning in the future,” he said.