Illustration by Jessie Leiber
From large holes in the ground to towering cranes in the sky, Alexandria is growing and changing quickly.
Millions of square feet are under development for new office space, retail and residential across the City of Alexandria and nearby Fairfax County.
Increasingly, developers are looking to create mixed-use areas that combine the best of living, working and relaxing in walkable neighborhoods.
In recent years, Alexandria has been named the Fourth Best City in America for Millennials by Niche, the Best Downtown by Livability and the Second Most Walkable City in Virginia by Walkscore.
Here is a list of where several of Alexandria’s biggest developments are going up, what’s being built and what residents and visitors can expect in the coming years.
1. NATIONAL LANDING
Developer: Multiple
Type: Mixed use plus Amazon’s HQ2
Delivery Date: Varies Internet giant Amazon has chosen a new neighborhood called National Landing for its second national head-quarters. National Landing includes part of northeast Alexandria near Potomac Yard and extends up in Crystal City. Simultaneously, Virginia Tech announced it will develop a huge Innovation Campus for technology education. Current plans call for the closing of the Regal Potomac Yard movie theater to build part of the Innovation Campus, and Amazon will be building new office space through-out the region. The timeline for development is 10 to 15 years.
2. NEW HEIGHTS
Developer: AHDC
Type: Residential
Delivery Date: 2020
Carpenter’s Shelter temporarily moved to the former Macy’s space at Landmark Mall while the shelter, in partnership with Alexandria Housing Development Corp., builds a new facility at 930 N. Henry Street with underground parking, a new shelter and nearly 100 affordable housing units. Just a few blocks away, the Ramsey Homes affordable housing development was torn down in June 2018 to make room for a larger affordable housing project that is under construction now.
3. FORMER METRO BUS GARAGE IN OLD TOWN
Developer: Trammel Crow Residential
Type: Residential Delivery
Date: Unknown
The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) announced in June 2018 that it sold its bus garage at 600 N. Royal St. to Trammel Crow Residential, a developer of multifamily residential homes. TCR has been approved to build 288 unit apartments. It is not yet under construction.
4. EISENHOWER EAST
Developer: Multiple
Type: Mixed use
Delivery Dates: Vary
Just west of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office near the Eisenhower Metro Station, the long-term vision for this area is “mixed-use, high-density development that takes full advantage of the transit infrastructure and the ability to construct very tall structures,” ac-cording to the Alexandria Economic Development Partnership. All of the new projects will include retail or other active uses on the ground floor. A new Wegmans is under construction in this neighborhood (estimated delivery 2021), as well as other retail, offices and residential projects to include a new food hall called Ike’s Five Star (estimated delivery 2020) and a third location for ALX Community’s co-working. The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority is planning to build a 10-story office building in this neighborhood, as well.
5. ALEX SOUTH
Developer: Craftmark Homes and Combined Properties
Type: Residential
Delivery Date: 2019 through 2021
Craftmark Homes has constructed 41 luxury, four-story townhomes with two-car garages, four bed-rooms, 3.5 baths and high-end finishes. Combined Properties is cur-rently in the process of developing 400 apartments and 44,000 square feet of ground-level retail space an-chored by an ALDI grocery store.
6. PENN DAW
Developer: Fairfield Residential
Type: Residential
Delivery Date: Unknown
Four buildings between 6321 and 6329 Richmond Highway are closed and awaiting redevelopment. The former Wendy’s fast food restaurant, martial arts school and adjacent buildings have been boarded up and will be demolished to make way for a multifamily residential development. The property changed hands from Novus to Fairfield Residential in early 2019, which delayed construction.
7. THE VICTORY CENTER
Developer: Stonebridge
Type: Residential
Delivery Date: unknown
Stonebridge acquired the Victory Center office property on Eisenhower Avenue in 2019 and quickly moved to rezone the east parking lot adjacent to the vacant office building. Stonebridge plans to put a residential townhouse development there. The developer intends to come forward with plans in late 2019. The office building will remain in place, as will the parking lot west of the building. Stonebridge is actively seeking tenants for the office building.
8. LANDMARK MALL
Developer: Howard Hughes Corp.
Type: Mixed use
Delivery Date: Unknown
Howard Hughes Corp. is work-ing hard on plans for the former Landmark Mall property. The 51-acre site will be completely redeveloped into a live-work-relax community with offices and retail, a transit hub, civic uses, open space and more. In addition, expect improvements for pedestrians, bicyclists and cars along Van Dorn and Duke streets.
9. N. BEAUREGARD AT SEMINARY
Developer: Monday’s Properties
Type: Residential
Delivery Date: Unknown
The developer will replace a current office building with a multi-family residential building with close to 300 units and an above-ground parking structure.
10. WEST ALEX
Developer: Bozzuto, Weingarten Realty
Type: Mixed use
Delivery Date: 2019
Harris Teeter will anchor this new project, which will be a mixed-use development with residential (The Array apartments) and retail at the corner of Beauregard and King streets in Alexandria’s West End. A new Montessori school has applied to be a part of this huge development. A Silver Diner is also part of the mix.
Additional Projects in the Works
In addition to the major developments listed here, a number of smaller projects are in the pipeline in the Alexandria area. Two of those projects involved converting former hotels to residential.
At 1101 N. Washington St., the Old Colony Inn will be replaced with 19 town-house-style multifamily units.
At 901 N. Fairfax St., a developer wants to convert the existing Crowne Plaza 13-story hotel into multifamily residential units and construct a few dozen town-house-style homes. A black box theater will be a part of the project with the intent to host MetroStage theater.
A new hotel is coming to Old Town, as well: The 7-story Hyatt Centric Hotel with retail on the bottom is currently under construction at 1611 King Street.
