Plans emerge for Kmart site
Dozens of former Kmart buildings around the country have been converted to self-storage facilities. A Kmart in Illinois has been transformed into a private school. and one in New Jersey is expected to be used for government offices and a clinic.
That’s not going to happen at the 125,000 square foot Kmart building at 4251 John Marr Drive in Annandale, which closed in November.
The property owner, Brian Kim, is converting the building to a food hall space, much like The Block next door, with several restaurants and possibly stores, says Christopher Lipscomb, senior vice president in charge of lending at John Marshall Bank, which is financing the project. It could also include a grocery store and spa.
Lipscomb hopes it could open by the end of 2019, although no tenants have signed on yet.
That concept is a short-term solution, however, while plans are drafted for a larger mixed-use project with 200 to 400 multifamily housing units and retail, Lipscomb says. He envisions something like the Scout on the Circle project under development at Fairfax Circle.
A pedestrian-friendly project like that in Annandale would drive other investment and bring up housing values, Lipscomb says. But that project would be at least three to five years away.
The first phase of the Kmart transformation won’t affect the The Block or the restaurants next to it, and the footprint won’t be changed. The former Wendy’s building won’t be affected either. That site is available for lease.
Meanwhile, beginning April 4, the Kmart parking lot will host a carnival, April 4-14, with a Ferris wheel, many more rides, games, and food stands.
33 responses to “Plans emerge for Kmart site”
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Sweet! Hope they consider a nano brewery or something in there.
This building should be utilized for day labor's space or a homeless shelter. What a waste another crappy food joint. The Annandale community needs rooms for the homeless and a place for day labors to gatherer for their boss meetups. The parking lot should be a open area designated for our new comers to the country as a place to camp in tents or sleep inside the old Kmart in a sheltered safe space environment. Wake up people this is whats happening now.
come on you can troll better than that. It's like you just googled random terms and put this together, at least take the time to do it right.
A nano brewery would be awesome! Great idea. Also would be nice if there were places with more vegetarian/vegan options. The Block is pretty limited on that front.
This is great news and I look forward to dining there. Finally someone has a plan that may actually bring in visitors and revenue to Annandale.
Yeah, it's already started with The Block, and several cool restaurants are opening up next to it. Momentum has already started. I think if the Kmart space is converted into a Hawker style place like they have in Singapore, that would be a winner. Since it's only temporary, it would be cheaper to do, and offer the same food stand concept with communal seating that The Block offers, but in a no frills and cheaper format. Until they plan to turn it in the longer term idea of a mixed-use project.
This is exciting news! Our area has so much unique potential–if only investors and developers would recognize it.
I'd like to key in on how you pick out that we have "unique" potential. I 100% agree with that.
I think each of our business centers in Mason District brings something awesome to the table that doesn't necessarily exist elsewhere. Here specifically in Annandale you have some world renowned cuisine that has come up in a grass-roots like fashion.
I don't want another Mosaic District or Tysons in Mason District… I want Annandale to be Annandale, just revitalized. Annandale has become a foodie's paradise, and that's something you can build off of.
I'm glad this property owner is seeing the potential!
What is wrong with having something similar to Mosaic District or Kings Town? Annandale is saturated with Asian restaurants and International grocery stores that are near by. We do not need another Eden Center. Annandale is tired and old and it could use a new life. Why not have condos instead of more apartment units. Also, good idea to have an area/building for day laborers, but kmart area is not the place for it.
Love this! Just make it look nice and upscale.
Really wish the temporary food hall could stay after they put in the apartments.
Saw this description of the potential redevelopment at Kmart:
The Annandale Va Kmart Site redevelopment will be a 1 million square foot mixed use project.
The initial phase will be the redevelopment of the approximately 125,000 sq ft Kmart store into an Asian shopping center with multiple restaurants, spa, and grocer.
The second phase will be 350 residential units with an additional 20,000 sq ft of retail.
The third phase will be another multifamily development. The future developments will start in 2022.
https://sjmpartners.com/coming-soon/kmart/
Sounds like an innovative solution except for the construction of hundreds of additional apartments(i.e multifamily units). How many are enough? They are a revenue loss for the County since the cost of necessary services for the tenants( roads, schools, social services, emergency services, green space(?) water, sewer, etc) way outweighs the taxes or onetime costs paid by the building owners. That also reduces a stake in the community.
Somehow mixed use seems to equate to rental units.
wont the property owners have to pay real estate taxes every year just like the rest of us?
Adam, yes. Real Estate Taxes are paid on rentals just like they are paid on resident-owned units. They are paid by the lessors, and the lessors just include the costs in the rent.
I feel like some people forget that there are certain things in life that you can't avoid… one of them is taxes.
Can't wait to see traffic in Annandale when that's done! Looking forward to how the traffic study will say it will only increase traffic by 10 cars in the morning! Yay!!!
I think the best interest for Annandale, is to make this project the centerpiece for the town. It should follow the same design as Mosaic and attract new businesses, corporate offices, and high end retail which could even provide justification for a metro.
I agree on the concept, but disagree on the design. Mosaic is a more industrial feel, I think it should have the feel of a community central destination. But retail generally is having difficulty now and I don't see Metro coming here. But shuttle service from Annandale to the Metro would be feasible.
I agree, you are going to need a lot more space than Kmart to have something of a Mosaic size. I think a central public space in Annandale for the community is really all that's needed for this place to be really successful, with the backing of good places to hang out and restaurants nearby, which is already anchored by The Block.
The other businesses nearby (Goodwill), could also eventually redevelop and become a walkable area with more (good) retail spaces and become a good hang out spot.
Response to Mr. Goldberg: The amount of annual real estate taxes paid by apartment building owners do not cover the cost of required services for their tenants. Unlike homeowners, apartment tenants do not pay real estate taxes although they use all available County services. e.g. schools,emergency and social services, recreational facilities, libraries etc.
The assessment rate for apartments is the same as single family homes, right? Also bear in mind that in 2019 apartments only made up 7% of the base RE assessment. 400 more apartments isn’t going to do much to affect the budget unfairly.
Anonymous – how much real estate tax is enough for you?
I'll take an example building: The Loren in Falls Church has 185 rental units, and is paying $650,611.11 in taxes this year. If you were to distribute that evenly amongst the unit, that's $3,516 per unit, which range from 1 bedroom apartments to small townhomes. There is also a small bit of retail, but it is a little less than 1/10 of the floor area of the building.
So, how do you figure that roughly $3,500/unit paid by the building owner (and passed on to the resident via rent) is not adequately paying for services?
Mind you that then the residents then pay property tax on their cars, just like you and me.
How about a movie theater like we used to have in the 80's?
What is the cost of educating one child in the public school system per year? My guess is that it is more than $3,516. This is a necessary cost borne by the County taxpayers, not the apartment owners. Your example of the Loren in Falls Church is also not typical of the average apartment complex in Mason District.
This is really heading towards troll territory – I'm the one with a name to my posts providing hard data (available via fairfax county and fcps websites), and you are just anonymously posting opinions without any references to back you up. But I'll try one last time:
The Loren is in Fairfax County (Providence District) – not Falls Church. It is literally a few feet from Mason District. I picked it because it is a new mixed-use development similar to what is proposed here. I have also observed no school aged kids at the Loren. Not saying there aren't any, but if there are kids there, there aren't many.
FCPS's cost per pupil for FY2019 is $14,767. Now tell me – do you pay that much in Real Estate Taxes? Unless you're part of the 1%, I'm guessing not.
Public Education is a communal effort. Everyone pays in, whether we currently have kids or not, for the better of society – because one day those kids will be our leaders and caretakers. Solid Public Education systems attract high tech businesses to invest and maintain good home values.
Is it too much to ask for a boot camp, Pilates or yoga place in Annandale?
How wonderful would it be for a Children's Arts Center to have been placed in this space so art, music and dance lessons for Annandale's kids could have given people a reason to go there and then spend money on restaurants and adult recreation time.
It should be a Walmart
Agreed. We don’t need anymore food places. We have too many. If there’s a Walmart, there’s the attraction. Right now we have to drive 30-40 minutes just to get items. It’ll be good for Annandale to build a Walmart. Plus people from all over would come.
This is outrageous �� people I talk to were hoping for a Walmart. Now I’m hearing a second block? Being made? Annandale has to many food places already, you trying to make have diabetes? Build a Walmart. It’s more convenient, it’s time to leap into the future.
Great. An upscale Seoul Plaza. Not what I was hoping for.
Walmart would have been a great choice but the owner is Korean so not surprised he opted for something catering mostly to Koreans.