Image by VMDO Architects provided by the Fairfax County DPWES
Proposed design for the redevelopment of the Original Mount Vernon High School.
After sitting virtually unused for almost 6 years, the Original Mount Vernon High School at 8333 Richmond Hwy. is on its way to getting new purpose.
At an in-person public meeting at the high school on Thursday evening, Fairfax County officials laid out their long-term plans for the building and asked for community input.
“The core of why we’re here and the core of this building is how we are moving things forward and how we are truly creating a place that everybody will feel welcome and frankly we have all different kinds of ways to feel welcome,” said Mount Vernon Supervisor Dan Storck during his opening remarks.
The building was originally built in 1939 on land that used to be part of George Washington’s Mount Vernon Estate. It was used as a high school until 1973 and then a middle school until 1985. The building was then leased to the Islamic Saudi Academy in 1989 until that school relocated to a new building in 2016.
Since then, parts of the building have been used for a variety of community purposes including, most recently, as a teen and senior center.
Now the County plans to redevelop the building into what they are calling a “Human Development Center,” which will offer a variety of community services and programming including continuing education, workforce and life skills development, arts and childcare. The building will have a variety of multi-generational and flexible community spaces for a mix of uses.
Some of these uses include a NOVA Community College Medical skills lab, space for Fairfax County Public School’s ACE program and non-profit services like the Financial Empowerment Center and Virginia Career Works programs.
The County is still identifying non-profit programs and partners that can bring the new center to life. The building has a 450-person capacity theatre that could be used for a variety of performing arts.
The County also proposes the creation of a culinary incubator that could take advantage of the large kitchen space in the building as the food service industry continues to adapt and expand and the demand for commercial kitchen space grows. The County will put out a request for interest in the culinary incubation program later in 2021.
The center could also house a business incubator that would compliment the culinary incubator, as well as provide essential STEM training and education and entrepreneurship development. “One of the interesting things about this corridor is that we have Fort Belvoir to the south, we have Amazon to the north, there is perhaps a tech corridor in development just waiting to happen right here,” said Rebecca Moudry, director of the Fairfax County Department of Economic Initiatives.
The County has already hired Charlottesville-based VMDO Architects to lead the design for the redevelopment of the high school. The fact that the high school was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in May 2018 poses extra challenges for the design.
Two non-historic building in the back of the building will be torn down which will allow for the main entrance of the new center to be moved to the back of the building which will allow greater accessibility while preserving the building’s historic brick façade facing Richmond Highway.
The design includes a new welcome center and childcare and business incubator buildings in the new front of the center. Elevators will ensure easy accessibility to all parts of the building. Courtyard and outdoor spaces will be included as part of the design and the existing library will be converted into an event space.
Design will continue to be refined through the fall of 2022 when construction is expected to begin. Occupancy of the building will begin in late fall of 2024. The project has a budget of $81 million which the County is seeking to fund through state historic tax credits and other sources.
A repeat of Thursday’s community meeting will be held virtually on Monday, June 28 at 7 p.m. email DPWESCAPOMVHighSchool@FairfaxCounty.gov or call the Building Design and Construction Division administrative office at 703-324-5800 to register for the meeting and receive a Zoom link. For more information on the Original Mount Vernon High School visit the project webpage here.
