The northern half of Annandale’s East Gate Shopping Center could start coming down any day now.
Fencing already blocks access to the portion of the strip mall that was home to The Block and other retailers, and demolition permits have been issued by Fairfax County.
The demolition process is expected to begin this week, Insight Property Group principal Maury Stern told FFXnow.
Owner of the Ravensworth Apartments and the developer behind Falls Church’s Broad & Washington, among other projects, Arlington-based Insight Property Group has been contracted by property owner Brian Kim to partially redevelop the shopping center with a six-story apartment building and up to 11,220 square feet of ground-floor retail.
Stern says the new development will deliver 268 apartments — slightly fewer than the maximum of 280 units approved by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors in 2023. About 22 of those apartments will be designated as workforce dwelling units, according to a site plan, meeting the county’s 8% requirement.
“We do not have any tenants to announce quite yet,” Stern said when asked about the plans for retail.
The project will also feature 23,858 square feet of park space, including a 0.38-acre pocket park or civic plaza and a 0.16-acre linear park that will be accessible to the general public. Some private park spaces reserved for residents, guests and customers of the apartment building will be provided as well.
As a condition of the project’s approval, Kim agreed that the future developer would provide outdoor seating, “informal performance spaces,” decorative lighting, bicycle racks, public art, and litter and dog waste stations as amenities in the publicly accessible parks.
Once demolition begins, it will take approximately 22 months for the first residential units to be delivered and 24 months for construction to be fully complete, according to Stern.
In addition to The Block, the portion of the East Gate Shopping Center targeted for demolition counted B-Thrifty and the restaurants Pelicana Korean Fried Chicken and Kimen Ramen & Izakaya among its tenants. All of the businesses were required to vacate the premises by the end of August to make way for the redevelopment.
Kimen Ramen is still operating in Fairfax and Centreville, while Pelicana can now be found at Luna Hall, a food hall that opened at 8201 Greensboro Drive in Tysons this summer. B-Thrifty has locations in Woodbridge and Camp Spring, Maryland, but it hasn’t returned to Fairfax County.
The fates of The Block’s vendors were similarly mixed. Snocream has been able to stay at East Gate, reopening in September in the Garden Social beer garden at 4363 John Marr Drive next to L&L Hawaiian Barbecue.
The owners of Balô Kitchen, a Vietnamese eatery, relocated to Arlington for a new Asian street food concept called Scapegoat Beer Garden that was expected this fall in Crystal City, though it appears to have missed that time frame. Meanwhile, Pokeworks and Bold Dumpling closed for good, Annandale Today reported.
In addition to Snocream and L&L, the East Gate Shopping Center still hosts a number of retailers, including its anchor grocer K Market International, the bakery Tous les Jours, Korean hot pot spot Gom Shabu, Taco Ssam, Tobe Nails and Spa, and House of Vape.
