With an entrance flanked by a Little Free Art Gallery and a colorful “LOVE” sign, Arts Herndon brings visible energy to a block of downtown Herndon otherwise dominated by an asphalt parking lot.
After this month, however, there will only be the parking lot and an empty concrete building, even though the development project that necessitated a temporary displacement of the art groups on the property has ground to a halt.
The Town of Herndon, which is currently looking to take back ownership of the development site from Comstock Companies, won’t extend a license agreement that has allowed Arts Herndon to stay at 750 Center Street, according to Michael O’Reilly, who chairs the nonprofit arts organization’s board of directors.
If the agreement isn’t reauthorized, Arts Herndon will have to vacate the premises by March 31. Other tenants included Next Stop Theatre Company, which was using space for storage and has already moved out, and the independent bookstore A Thousand Stories, which shuttered in December.
“The town has indicated that they believe it’s time for us to leave,” O’Reilly told FFXnow. “In my conversation with the town attorney, she indicated that the town wasn’t going to provide, or wasn’t willing to provide any support as far as managing the building or housing a tenant in the building.”
Development promised permanent arts center
The approximately 6,000-square-foot building at 750 Center Street has been operating as ArtSpace Herndon since 2008, hosting an art gallery, theater performances, open mic nights, classes and other programming.
The facility was conceived by Herndon Foundation for the Cultural Arts — one of two arts organizations, along with the Council for the Arts of Herndon, that later merged to form Arts Herndon — as a showcase for local visual and performing artists.
With demand and its ambitions quickly outgrowing the space, Arts Herndon secured support for a future public art center on the site, as designated in a downtown master plan adopted by the Herndon Town Council in February 2011.
That vision seemed to be coming to fruition when the town and Comstock entered an agreement in 2017 to redevelop 4.7 acres of the downtown area. After a delay due to an appeal by property owners, the Heritage Preservation Review Board approved certificates in 2019 allowing the ArtSpace building and one at 770 Elden Street to be demolished.
Though it transferred the land for the redevelopment project to Comstock in December 2020, the Town of Herndon retained a license for the ArtSpace building and offered Arts Herndon a sublicense agreement on Dec. 15, 2020, enabling the nonprofit to continue renting the space until construction started.
But after numerous delays and compromises, including a significant downsizing of the planned arts center, Comstock notified the town on Dec. 6, 2024 that it was withdrawing from the project, which would’ve also delivered 273 apartments, 17,600 square feet of retail space and a 761-space public parking garage.
Prior to that announcement, Comstock leaders had expressed hope that they would be able to begin construction on the parking garage in April 2025, prompting the Herndon Town Council to extend the sublicense agreement with Arts Herndon from Nov. 12, 2024 until March 31, 2025.
Even though construction is no longer imminent, Herndon doesn’t want to continue investing in the maintenance and upkeep needed to preserve an old building still marked for eventual demolition, O’Reilly says, citing recent discussions with Town Attorney Lisa Yeatts.
“There is some cost to the town. There’s no question about that,” O’Reilly said. “But from my perspective, and speaking for the arts organizations, it’s a relatively small cost for the value that the community gets. But that argument did not prevail.”
When contacted by FFXnow, a Town of Herndon spokesperson said they have “no additional comment,” including on why the town isn’t considering extending Arts Herndon’s lease and whether it has a time frame in mind for demolishing the building.
Herndon Mayor Keven LeBlanc emphasized that Herndon values art and culture, noting that the town has an established arts district that offers fee waivers and other incentives to businesses that move to and stay in its downtown.
“Arts and culture are vital to Herndon’s identity, as evidenced by our Arts District tax incentives, private arts-based small businesses, organizations such as Arts Herndon and Next Stop Theatre, and a community-focused arts education program at Parks and Recreation,” LeBlanc said. “We are working with Arts Herndon and are deeply committed to working with them — and all of our arts organizations — to foster a thriving arts scene in Herndon.”
Arts Herndon hopes to continue community support
According to O’Reilly, Arts Herndon has been actively searching for a new space, but options are “extremely limited,” particularly in the downtown area.
The town had offered to let the organization use a portion of the Herndon Police Department’s station at 397 Herndon Parkway as a temporary location during construction, committing $343,000 to prepare the 2,000-square-foot space.
While that space is still available, as far as he knows, O’Reilly says it won’t accommodate many needs beyond storage.
“We’ve been trying to make the downtown a little more vibrant,” he said. “The space that they’ve offered is much smaller. It’s not conducive to holding events where people would congregate, and it’s really out of the way. There’s no way there would ever be any walk-up traffic. There’s no visibility … It really wouldn’t work.”
Barring any last-minute intervention or sudden freeing up of space, Arts Herndon will move forward without an official, physical base.
O’Reilly says the nonprofit hopes to continue promoting the arts and supporting events around Herndon, whether it’s finding one-time space for a small arts show, getting involved in an outdoor festival or providing scholarships and grants.
However, it won’t be able to offer classes and other programs that require a fixed location. In addition, it likely can’t retain president and CEO Joanna Ormesher without the revenue needed to fund a full-time position.
“She’s extremely valuable,” O’Reilly said of Ormesher. “I mean, she’s worth every penny that she’s paid, but I think Jo will be looking, and I would highly recommend her to anybody that has an opening for someone who can pick up a ball and run with it without much direction from the top.”
O’Reilly, who once served as mayor and on the town council, says he’s “not sure I understand that logic” with the town allowing a building that has served as a small but dedicated arts center in the heart of its downtown to become vacant.
Still, he’s confident that the local arts community, and the residents and visitors who support it, will find ways to persist.
“The town is pretty resilient, and we’ve been through a number of things over the years, and I’ve been here a long time, so I’ve seen a lot of them,” O’Reilly said. “… I just consider this not a problem, but an opportunity. We’ll look forward to finding new and different ways to continue to bring the arts to the residents of the town.”
