Shop owners facing displacement seek rent relief
The owners of long-time small businesses in an aging retail strip in Falls Church say they are being forced to close without being given sufficient time to plan for the future.
Virginia Hospital Center plans to demolish the Graham Center retail strip on Arlington Boulevard at Graham Road and replace it with a medical facility. The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors gave the project a green light in October.
VHC told the businesses, most of whom are owned by immigrants, that they must vacate the shopping center by March 31.
The Viet Place Collective (VPC), a local advocacy organization, is pushing VHC and government officials to give business owners a deadline extension and a break on the rent.
VHC purchased the retail strip in September 2023 and filed a zoning special exception application in February 2024. But business owners say they weren’t notified until September.
“I just took over the business a year and a half ago, and I had no idea about this redevelopment,” Tim Lê, owner of Phở Golden Cow, told VPC. Six months’ notice isn’t enough, and “the cold makes moving tough,” he said. “Any assistance from the landlord would help a lot.”
Biên Hòa Oriental Supermarket, one of the last-remaining and longest-standing Vietnamese grocery stores in Northern Virginia, hasn’t determined if they will be able to re-establish elsewhere.
Related story: Board approves medical center to replace retail strip
Fairfax County planning staff didn’t contact any of the businesses before the public hearings, VPC notes. The plans didn’t call for Virginia Hospital Center to provide any rent relief or other assistance to the businesses being displaced. In fact, several businesses saw rent increases during the past year.
“Fairfax County approved this development without consulting the impacted small businesses and without considering how this displacement of the businesses and their workers would affect the community. It’s clear that the outreach that’s legally required is neither sufficient nor considerate,” said Binh Ly, VPC’s core organizer.
“Within the last year before the closure announcement, they [landlord] raised our rent three times. I feel like they were trying to push us out,” said Elviz, owner of the Elviz Styles salon. “We should be given some funds to help us relocate. I would like at least another month or two added to the deadline and for some rent relief.”
“They gave us just five or six months’ notice for moving. It’s not enough time,” said Jarbis Gocer, who opened Modern Shoe Repair & Cleaners in 1978.
Gocer told Annandale Today he plans to retire and that it’s going to be difficult selling his inventory and dry-cleaning equipment. What he can’t sell, he’ll have to throw out. Meanwhile, he still has to pay rent – $2,977 a month plus utilities – through March even though “customers aren’t coming anymore because they know we’re closing.” He has asked VHC to reduce the rent for the final months.
Skyline Nail Supply is also trying to negotiate for rent relief while searching for a new location, said employee Brian Do. Carina’s Fashion already closed – on Jan. 1 – after 18 years at Graham Center.
Other affected tenants include Pupuseria Mana, dentist Na Khoa Tham My, and Boost Mobile.
VPC wrote to Providence Supervisor Dalia Palchik and Virginia Hospital Center officials to request an extension of the deadline to vacate, rent relief in the final months, and funds for relocation assistance.
They have not yet received a response, says Quynh Nguyen of the VPC.
“During our conversations with the business owners and employees, we heard intense frustration about this sudden upheaval of their livelihoods and their exclusion from outreach and public hearings about this redevelopment,” the VPC emails state. “These thriving immigrant-owned small businesses have supported the multicultural communities of Falls Church and beyond with integral services, products, and food for 20+ years. They’ve provided gainful employment for dozens of community members, and they want to continue serving the community.”
12 responses to “Shop owners facing displacement seek rent relief”
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Wow, that’s a tough partnership to beat – – the county government and a hospital system. As far as I’m concerned, the county has been trending towards imperial government for a long time. County staff, who are not elected by the way, seem to pretty much drive policy and decisions. The county squawks a lot about One Fairfax, yet when offered an opportunity (?) to add more medical facilities right down the road from Inova Hospital system’s starship facility, it was ready to disrespectfully cast aside business owners from the county’s immigrant population that contribute so much to the “One Fairfax” meme.
Best of luck to the “Davids” fighting the county and hospital system’s Goliath.
Curious to see if this is a broader attempt by Fairfax County to sell off the old Graham Road School behind this shopping center and move the current community center. When I worked at Graham Road School, I was convinced that it was the County’s plan all along to move the school and not give the community everything promised at the community center, or at the very least to only keep a limited promise.
Bad on the County, bad on the landlord.
Btw, “last Vietnamese grocery in Northern Virginia”? Did something happen to Eden Center? Last I checked (Google just now) there were like 4 of them over there. (And Yelp has “Top 10 Best Vietnamese Grocers in Alexandria”. Apparently there are more than 10 in Alexandria alone. Etc.)
Maybe he meant “the last Vietnamese grocery on that block”. I do hope he is able to relocate somewhere and continue his business.
The article says Bien Hoa Supermarket is “one of the last-remaining Vietnamese grocery stores in Northern Virginia.” There are no more Vietnamese-specific grocery stores in Eden Center; the last one closed years ago. The big supermarket there is Chinese.
To play devils advocate… is the landlord acting within the bounds of the established lease? I think the answer is probably yes. I know nothing about commercial leases but the terms seemed terrible and the business owners should’ve seen the writing on the wall.
Despicable move from the County
Where his Andres Jimenez? By the way, I received his newsletter yesterday which was shockingly void of any accomplishments (“we built a brand and put up a social media page.”)
I was sorting the mail when I saw it and almost saved it for my husband because it was so bad, but ultimately it joined the rest of the junk mail directly in the trash because I decided it was more upsetting than anything else.
The newsletter reminded me of when I was a government contractor and had to report what I did every week, when in fact I had done nothing but show up late, screw around on the Internet, and take two hour lunches.
-Reviewed a thing
-Went to a meeting
-Collaborated about idea
This site is in Providence District. Supervisor Jimenez represents Mason District.
Jiminez doesn’t represent this part of Falls Church, Palchik does.
Has VHC received all the permits required to start construction? If not then give the business owners additional time to locate a new space.
Shame on the County for granting approval and not looking out for the tenants.
I appreciate this take from Annandale Today – unfortunately the County needs more tools to protect small businesses. Maybe there are but I’m not aware of any.
Development can be good and it does seems Providence District office did do outreach (from FFXNow article):
The county notified tenants about the proposed redevelopment on Aug. 1, and on Sept. 1 through “their normal channels” as well as website and on-site notifications, Stanton said.
The special exception was ultimately approved by the Board of Supervisors on Oct. 8.
“Robust and effective outreach is important,” Palchik said. “So, in addition to efforts by the Graham Center owners, staff from my office walked the community and went door-to-door to the current businesses at the Graham Center … We would be happy to reconnect directly with the tenants
https://www.ffxnow.com/2024/12/30/small-businesses-scramble-to-make-way-for-planned-vhc-health-facility-in-west-falls-church/
If anything, maybe they could have provided disclosures in the approval by the Board, facilitated regular updates, allow or make FCEDA focus on relocating tenants to other locations, etc.
I do think Viet Place Collective is doing right by the small businesses, it’s tougher when it comes later/post approval.
My impression is that the Fairfax County Government staff and especially the Democrat Super Majority of the Fairfax County Supervisors think (and may actually say out loud) that the Viet Place Collective and the people they seek to represent “need to stop complaining and they should instead share their appreciation and support for the Supervisors hard work.”
After all, fairly soon Fairfax County will be home to a shiny new COVID-19 memorial that will serve as a Mecca to all the dancing nurses throughout the world.
Nobody can deny that the Supervisors of Fairfax County reflect the will and interests of their very woke constituents.
And VHC does not care about the immigrant community of Northern Virginia, despite all their “charity” claims and propaganda to the contrary.