A new paid parking system is in place for the retail shops outside the Dunn Loring Metro station.
The garage and surface parking lot adjacent to District Taco in the Shops at Avenir Place now requires visitors to pay for parking using their cell phones — specifically the app Metropolis, which boasts a process without tickets or cash.
While that in itself is not unusual, given the rise of services like ParkMobile, some online commenters at least lamented the hassle of having to pay by phone without alternative options, such as an in-person kiosk.
“It’s not terribly expensive but some people, including older people, get really confused and try to back up into traffic when they see it,” one user wrote on Reddit. “It’s terrible!”
To Metropolis’ credit, the lot is adorned with a wide swath of signage explaining the process. Drivers are welcomed by a “Just drive in” sign, as well as instructions inside about how to create an account and pay by phone.
Asana Partners, which serves as the property manager of the Shops at Avenir Place, could not be reached for comment. But commenters on the Reddit thread speculated that the decision came after commuters using Metro or visiting nearby office buildings took advantage of the lot’s previously free parking.
“Looking at it from the property manager side, there was probably enough people using it for Metro that it needed control,” one user wrote. “It costs money for them to have and maintain the gating system as well as monitor it.”
Some users observed that visitors going to the local field office for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which is located across the street at 2675 Prosperity Avenue, often used the retail lot in an attempt to avoid paying for the Prosperity Metro Plaza garage.
According to representatives of two businesses in the shopping center, the retail parking would quickly fill up under the previous process, but it was unclear if all of those patrons were actually shopping at Avenir Place.
Under the new parking system, the first 15 minutes are free. Parking costs roughly $1 an hour for the first two hours, peaking at $9 for a full 12- to 24-hour period. In fine print in the app, Metropolis notes that it also adds a service fee of 99 cents or 5% of the total fare, whichever is higher, “to support operational costs.”
However, many of the restaurants and shops offer validation. Diners at District Taco, for example, can park in the lot for two hours at no cost, the restaurant confirmed to FFXnow.
Other parking areas near the Metro station appear to remain unchanged. Rates for the Metro parking garage, for example, remain the same, while street parking and other garages, including one for Harris Teeter, are unaffected.
Paid retail parking remains relatively rare in Fairfax County, with major shopping centers like the malls in Tysons, the Mosaic District in Merrifield, Springfield Town Center and Fair Oaks Mall providing free spaces.
Intended to discourage commuter parking with the arrival of Metro’s Silver Line, the introduction of parking fees at Reston Town Center inspired protests and a petition, leading property owner BXP to later modify its system to allow free parking for the first hour and after 5 p.m. on weekdays.
RTC West also began charging for parking in 2023, and some of the newer developments in Tysons, including Capital One Center and Tysons West, have paid parking systems.
