The PARC at Tysons will shut down at the end of this month, a few months shy of five years since it transformed a vacant retail building on Route 7 (Leesburg Pike) into a vibrant community events venue.
Announced on June 17, the closure wasn’t planned or requested by events organizer Celebrate Fairfax, which has called the PARC its home since it opened in 2021. But the nonprofit is approaching the news with a positive outlook, using the occasion to reflect on the venue’s impact on local residents, artists and businesses.
“We are very proud of what we were able to create for the community, and we are deeply grateful for all the support, collaboration and contributions of everyone involved,” Celebrate Fairfax said in an email to FFXnow.
The PARC at Tysons was conceived as a community gathering space and events hub by Celebrate Fairfax, the booster organization Tysons Partnership (later replaced by the Tysons Community Alliance) and Fairfax County, which acquired the former Container Store site at 8508 Leesburg Pike for $16.6 million in October 2019.
Before the PARC opened, the county used the 19,260-square-foot building as a storage site for personal protective equipment during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic and as a hypothermia shelter.
Celebrate Fairfax formally launched the new venue on Sept. 17, 2021 with a block party where it announced the name, which was chosen based on an online poll and stands for People, Art, Recreation and Community.
The adoption of the PARC as its headquarters came during a period of transition for Celebrate Fairfax. Previously known as the organizer of the popular Celebrate Fairfax! Festival, the nonprofit announced in April 2022 that, in the wake of the pandemic, it would close out that annual tradition in favor of smaller, more localized events.
Many of those events were held at the PARC. In addition to block parties, winter markets and live performances, the venue supported local artists with exhibitions and pop-up installations. It hosted a traffic garden to promote safety and has served as a voting precinct since 2023.
According to Celebrate Fairfax, the site helped artists, makers, business entrepreneurs and community organizations save over $350,000 in expenses by providing an accessible space where they could work or offer events at no cost.
“More than a venue, The PARC became a living example of placemaking in action,” Celebrate Fairfax said in its farewell announcement. “It served as an incubator for creative entrepreneurs, a catalyst for the continued development of an Arts and Culture district in Tysons, and a framework for how future community-centered locations can help transform a space into a destination.”
The decision to close the PARC was made by Fairfax County, which determined the building “has reached the end of its useful life and would require significant investment to remain operational,” a spokesperson told FFXnow.
Originally constructed in 1973, per county land records, the site was vacated by the Container Store in October 2018 when the storage supply retailer moved across the street to 8459 Leesburg Pike, where it’s now in the process of merging with Bed Bath and Beyond.
The property had been snapped up in 2013 for $15.25 million by an affiliate of JBG Smith, which saw it as a future development opportunity. However, by the time the Container Store actually left, the developer had moved on from that idea, leading it to sell the site to the county instead, the Washington Business Journal reported at the time.
Celebrate Fairfax targeted for consolidation
Future plans for both the PARC and Celebrate Fairfax remain hazy.
Fairfax County didn’t comment on what it intends to do with the property at 8508 Leesburg Pike, which it still owns, but the Board of Supervisors adopted a fiscal year 2027 budget on May 5 that eliminated a $750,000 contribution to Celebrate Fairfax as part of a plan to “integrate” the nonprofit with Visit Fairfax, the county’s official tourism marketing agency.
The county proposed the consolidation in an effort to reduce costs and “streamline tourism and event-related functions,” the county spokesperson said. In a Feb. 3 directive, the Board of Supervisors asked county staff to also include the Tysons Community Alliance and Volunteer Fairfax in their review of possible restructurings of “placemaking” organizations.
As of June 18, a Celebrate Fairfax spokesperson told FFXnow that the nonprofit hadn’t been informed by the county about how it or The PARC at Tysons fit into the “broader local placemaking review,” and it had no insight into the county’s plans for the building.
“Celebrate Fairfax remains an active, independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization,” Celebrate Fairfax said. “Our Board of Directors are currently evaluating our path forward.”
When asked about the PARC’s upcoming closure, Providence District Supervisor Dalia Palchik, who represents most of Tysons, said in a statement that she’s “disappointed to lose a space that has given back so much to our local organizations.”
“Tysons has a clear need for community space,” she said. “Several public facilities have been approved but remain unbuilt — and I’m determined to do what’s necessary to deliver them: cutting red tape and holding developers accountable to their commitments.”
While many of the private developments around Tysons host community events, public options are limited. The Fairfax County Department of Neighborhood and Community Services (NCS) partnered with the Mather to open a senior center last year in its apartment complex, but the facility is smaller then the PARC and focuses on programming for adults 50 and older.
Tysons will finally get a community center of its own when the Exchange at Spring Hill apartments are completed next year.
“Anticipated to open in summer 2027, the 30,000-square-foot facility will feature flexible, multi-purpose spaces designed to serve the broader community,” the Fairfax County spokesperson said.
A development plan approved for Tysons Central back in 2013 included 14,500 square feet of space set aside for public or community use, but only two of the planned buildings — the Lumen Apartments and Boro Central office building — have come to fruition.
The Fairfax County Redevelopment and Housing Authority and developer Lincoln Avenue Communities acquired a 1.7-acre site within the development area in January in the hopes of turning it into affordable housing. FCRHA has said the project will include non-residential space, but hasn’t provided details yet about the amenities, including whether they will serve the general public or just the new building’s residents.
