For years, residents of Alexandria’s West End have heard that the Landmark Mall property will be redeveloped.
This time, it may actually happen.
Foulger-Pratt CEO Cameron Pratt told residents in an online community meeting Monday night that he understands why some residents are skeptical that this round of plans will yield results.
But the relocation of Inova Alexandria Hospital from its current Seminary Hill home to a to-be-constructed, $1 billion state-of-the-art facility fills a void that was felt in earlier development plans.
Previous plans focused primarily on retail as an anchor for the entire Landmark Mall 52-acre development.
“The world of retail has been drastically changing,” Pratt said. The past year with the coronavirus pandemic and a huge increase in online shopping has only accelerated those changes.
“The idea of retailers coming in and signing new leases — that’s an uphill battle right now,” Pratt said.
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The new hospital as a development anchor provides stability, with a long-term commitment to the space, and the hospital will drive some demand for nearby retail, strengthening the development concept overall.
Retail will not be abandoned, though, in the project. Slides shown during the community meeting (below) included multiple ground-floor retail spaces for restaurants, traditional retail and entertainment or experiential spaces.
City of Alexandria community meeting online, Jan. 4, 2021.
Who’s Paying for This?
Redeveloping 52 acres won’t be cheap by any measure.
City officials are proposing two sets of bonds: “$54 million in public bond funds to acquire land to lease to Inova for the proposed hospital and related medical facilities, and … $76 million in public bond funds for Landmark site preparation and infrastructure costs.”
The idea is that the tax revenue generated by the development and the lease by Inova will provide more-than enough revenue to pay back those bonds.
“It is projected that over a 30-year period, the redevelopment of the Landmark site would generate some $788 million in new tax revenues for the City,” according to city officials.
No money from the general fund or earmarked for other projects will be used for the Landmark redevelopment.
New Hospital Details
The new hospital will have a larger Emergency Department, a Level-II Trauma Center and a helipad, 230 private patient rooms, a new cancer center and medical offices for specialty physicians.
Inova is working on designs for the hospital now, but planning and building such a high-tech facility is complicated and could take years.
The new hospital will be located on the western side of the Landmark campus, close to I-395 and Duke Street.
Residents in the online community meeting brought up concerns about traffic, the condition of the nearby streets and noise.
All of those concerns will be discussed in more detail in future meetings and city and Inova officials did their best to assure residents that roadway improvements and traffic mitigation measures will be in place.
While the development will be pedestrian and bicycle friendly, there are plans for at least two garages on the site and improvements to area intersections and access points.
More details about that will be available as the hospital, city officials and developers move through the development process.
Housing, Retail and More
The project will include 4 million square feet of development. About 1 million will be for the hospital and trauma center, with the rest going to housing, retail, entertainment and civic uses.
A new fire station along Duke Street, affordable housing, housing for seniors and park space are included in the plans.
Among the buildings not slated for the development: A school. City officials explained that there is space that may be used for a school as part of the upcoming Greenhill North development, located further south on Van Dorn Street.
Timeline
Foulger-Pratt and Inova plan to go through a coordinated development district plan in June of 2021, after which they can start with various development special use permits (DSUP) for infrastructure and individual blocks. During that time and beyond, residents will have multiple opportunities to weigh in on plans, designs and more. Construction will happen over several years, likely starting with the demolition of the Landmark Mall building as early as 2022.
Watch the complete 90-minute online community meeting here.
Next Meeting
6 p.m. Jan. 6, there will be an online community meeting regarding plans for the "old" Inova Alexandria Hospital site, which may become a new residential community.
