Photo courtesy of Mark White
This dairy barn may become a restaurant and event and live music venue in the Mount Vernon area.
Mark White and his twin brother Michael grew up across the street from a dairy barn in their Mount Vernon neighborhood at Grist Mill Park.
The two are now part of a group including noted restaurateur Noe Landini and construction company exec Victor Bonomi working on bringing new life to the 6,000-square foot historic dairy barn, located at 4710 Mount Vernon Memorial Highway.
They envision a full-service family restaurant, bar and concession stand serving ice cream, coffee and snacks, Mark White said.
Photo courtesy of Mark White
A view of a community garden at the Grist Mill Park barn.
The barn, likely more than 100 years old, is now part of Grist Mill Park owned by Fairfax County; the park is filled with families who come there for a dog park, playground and to play sports.
Today, Mark and Michael are in the real estate business with their parents Chris and Peggy White, in the Chris White Family Real Estate Group at Long & Foster and they all live on the same street near the park. Mark and Michael are raising their families there and often visit the park.
“The original story is that a congressman owned it,” Mark said. “He wanted to farm while he was in DC.” The farm changed hands before the county purchased it.
Photo courtesy of Mark White
A view of the Grist Mill Park barn that a group hopes to see converted into a full-service restaurant and concession space.
In 2019, the county began asking the community for ideas about what might be done with the barn. “We thought, ‘This could be an opportunity here,’” Mark said. While the Covid pandemic slowed down their plans, they're now seeing them come to fruition.
The Whites have developed a proposal which they submitted to the county, to convert the barn into a full-service family restaurant, as well as an event and live music venue. Other aspects include adding restroom facilities for the park.
“It’s a big hub for youth soccer in our area,” Mark said. “It’s still in the conceptual phase but we’re hoping it would be partly a sit-down restaurant as well as a ‘grab and go’ with coffee, ice cream and concessions, sort of a hybrid.”
“This is new territory for Fairfax County too,” he said.
The Whites are getting an assist from Landini and Bonomi, a neighbor of theirs who owns a construction company. “He lives in our neighborhood and Noe hangs out in our neighborhood. We like the idea of it being locally owned. It would be a great place to see and meet friends and family.”
The Whites, Landini and Bonomi are waiting on approval from the county, which could come in mid to late April. Once they get approval, more decisions and studies will have to be made, Mark said.
The brothers have briefed the Mount Vernon Council of Citizens' Associations.
Read more on the county website here.
