Realty company Terreno Realty Corporation may have plans for a cluster of warehouses called the Fleet Industrial Park in Franconia.
The company recently announced that it purchased 6584-6674 Fleet Drive, a group of four industrial distribution buildings, for $84.3 million.
The buildings are approximately 357,000 square feet on a 19.1-acre lot.
In the release, Terreno Realty Corporation noted that the leases at the lot all expire by 2031:
The property is at 6584-6674 Fleet Drive approximately two miles from the intersection of I-95/395 and I-495 (Capital Beltway), provides 67 dock-high and 38 grade-level loading positions and parking for 580 cars. The property is 100% leased to 21 tenants, with all leases expiring by 2031, and the estimated stabilized cap rate is 5.3%.
Photo via Google Maps
H/t Ryan Belmore
A daytime-only cafe in Franconia will get next week off to an energetic start, offering free coffee to diners as part of its grand opening on Monday (March 18).
First Watch, a fast-casual restaurant chain based in Florida, will open its latest Fairfax County location in the Festival at Manchester Lakes shopping center (7027C Manchester Blvd) at 7 a.m. Free cups of coffee from Project Sunrise will come with every meal through Friday, March 22.
The 4,500-square-foot cafe will seat more than 170 people and features a covered outdoor dining patio, along with a bar that serves signature juices, cocktails and coffee.
“Our Franconia restaurant is the perfect location to kick off an exciting expansion that’s been years in the making, with a fresh take on brunch our customers know and love,” First Watch Vice President of Operations Rob Botelho said. “As First Watch approaches two decades in the area, we’re thrilled to share our aspirations to inspire even more good mornings with each of our new openings.”
Originally started in Pacific Grove, California, in 1983, First Watch now has more than 520 restaurants in 29 states, including locations at Fair City Mall in Fairfax, Crossroads Center shopping center in Bailey’s Crossroads and Greenbriar Town Center in Chantilly.
The Franconia restaurant is the company’s first expansion in Fairfax County since the Bailey’s Crossroads site opened in 2021, but two additional locations are already on their way.
The chain will replace a TGI Fridays in Fair Lakes that closed in late 2023, and it officially announced in January that it has leased a 4,000-square-foot space in Idylwood Plaza (7501 Leesburg Pike). Both cafes are expected to open by this fall.
Open seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., First Watch serves breakfast, brunch and lunch dishes. Fan favorites include avocado toast, lemon ricotta pancakes and million dollar bacon — hardwood-smoked bacon baked with brown sugar, black pepper, cayenne and a maple syrup drizzle, per a press release.
The cafe also has a seasonal menu that changes five times a year based on “the position of the sun to source quality ingredients” for dishes like barbacoa quesadilla benedict and watermelon wake-up fresh juice. A seasonal menu will roll out in Franconia for the first time this summer.
A plan to redevelop the site of the Franconia Governmental Center has been delayed again.
At Fairfax County Board of Supervisors meeting on Feb. 20, Franconia District Supervisor Rodney Lusk formally deferred a decision to convey a nearly 3-acre property at 6121 Franconia Road to the Fairfax County Redevelopment and Housing Authority to May 21.
Following a three-hour public hearing on Jan. 23, Lusk said it was apparent that more community discussions were needed ahead of the decision.
“Given the interest in this property and the need to ensure that our entire community has an opportunity to voice their opinions on the property transfer, I believe more time is required before this matter returns to the Board,” Lusk said.
The deferral was approved with no discussion.
Lusk plans to begin several community conversations in April with the Department of Housing and Community Development and the Department of Neighborhood and Community Services.
“This dialogue will allow residents and stakeholders the opportunity to express their ideas and vision and in a subsequent meeting receive feedback on development processes and concepts,” he said. “These in-person community conversations, along with an online engagement platform option, are expected to increase public understanding of affordable housing and general public knowledge to inform decision-making.”
NFP Affordable Housing Corp., Good Shepherd Housing and SCG Development Partners hope to develop the site into up to 120 units of affordable housing, including 25 units for qualified police, fire, teachers and medical personnel.
The development would include one- to three-bedroom units targeting individuals and families with incomes between 30 to 80% of the area median income, according to a proposal submitted by the development team. At the time the proposal was submitted, the team aimed to begin construction in January 2027, fully leasing the units by September of that year.
The Franconia Governmental Center is in the process of being relocated. Construction on a new facility that will be combined with the Kingstowne Regional Library began in 2022, and it’s expected to be ready for occupancy in early 2025, according to the project page.
Image via Google Maps
A man already convicted of possessing child pornography has been sentenced to life in prison for shooting a fellow military veteran nearly seven years ago.
Jaeyoung Lee was sentenced to life, plus 48 years in prison for shooting Jeremy Tammone on Oct. 21, 2017, leaving him permanently injured, Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano announced Friday (Jan. 26).
Lee, who served in the U.S. Navy for seven years, waited outside Tammone’s apartment in the Franconia District and shot him three times after he answered the door, according to the commonwealth’s attorney’s office.
Tammone is a 50-year-old Army and Marine veteran who was working at that time as a Defense Department contractor, according to an NBC4 report. He was also a friend of a woman who had recently broken up with Lee.
According to prosecutors, Lee had spent months stalking his ex-girlfriend, including by “hacking her social media accounts to monitor her messages, installing cameras in her home, and making copies of her apartment door locks to practice unlocking them.”
Police quickly identified Lee as a suspect in Tammone’s shooting, per NBC4, but his arrest didn’t come until Jan. 9, 2018 after detectives found a device with child pornography images and videos during a search of Lee’s apartment in the “Alexandria section” of Fairfax County.
Initially charged with 20 counts of child porn possession, Lee was ultimately convicted on 100 counts in January 2020, according to Descano’s office. The conviction was appealed and sustained by a three-judge panel in July 2021.
In that case, Lee was sentenced on June 12, 2020 to a total of 20 years in prison — one year for each of the 100 charges, with 80 of them running concurrently instead of consecutively — but 15 years were suspended, giving him five years of active jail time, a spokesperson for the commonwealth’s attorney’s office says.
For the shooting, prosecutors pushed for a life sentence because they believe Lee’s “actions indicate that he remains a serious danger to the community,” Descano said. Lee was convicted of seven felonies in a May 2023 trial.
“Over a period of months, he planned and calculated, committing multiple felonies as he stalked his ex-girlfriend,” Descano said. “This period of dangerous obsession culminated in one of the worst possible outcomes: a victim’s life permanently destroyed.”
Tammone continues to suffer from the brain and organ damage he sustained from the shooting, which left him unable to eat or drink, NBC4 reported. He and his family told the news station that they felt Lee’s sentencing was an “appropriate close of…this horrific chapter” of their lives.
In addition to the life sentence for aggravated malicious wounding, Lee received three years for using a firearm in a felony, 20 years for malicious computer trespassing, 10 years for possessing burglary tools, and five years each for wiretapping and two counts of using a computer to obtain personal information, per Descano’s office.
“Individuals who pose this kind of danger receive sentences that first and foremost keep the community safe,” Descano said. “I’m grateful to the detectives and prosecutors who helped bring this case through to the end, and I hope that closing the book today brings a measure of justice the victims and their families.”
The commonwealth’s attorney’s office also announced a life-in-prison sentence on Friday for McLean resident Megan Hargan, who shot and killed her mother and sister on July 14, 2017.
A plan to redevelop the site of the Franconia Governmental Center into an affordable housing development won’t move forward until the new year.
At a meeting last Tuesday (Dec. 5), the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors deferred a decision to transfer the nearly 3-acre property at 6121 Franconia Road to the Fairfax County Redevelopment and Housing Authority (FCRHA).
Franconia District Supervisor Rodney Lusk moved to defer a decision on the conveyance to Jan. 23.
FCHRA is currently negotiating with a developer to expand the county’s affordable housing portfolio by building apartments on the property.
The land transfer previously got a public hearing and the board’s approval in March 2021, but staff said in a Dec. 5 memo that unidentified concerns were raised about the “validity” of the hearing.
“Although staff does not share these concerns, this item is intended to fully address this issue by both validating the original conveyance, and in an abundance of caution, repeating the public hearing,” staff wrote.
The county issued a request for proposals from developers in February of last year. The request stated that the future development should have up to 120 residential units.
The FCHRA is set to complete a public hearing on the interim agreement for the proposal on Thursday, Dec. 14, with the intention to execute the agreement on Jan. 18.
The Franconia Government Center is in the process of being relocated. Construction on the new facility began last year, and it’s expected to be ready for occupancy in early 2025, according to the project page.
Image via Google Maps
A chain restaurant dedicated to wood-fired grilling has its first Fairfax County location in the works.
Firebirds, which specializes in hand-cut steaks and seafood, is set to open in Franconia at Festival at Manchester Lakes (7027A Manchester Blvd, Unit 28), a shopping center at the corner of Manchester Blvd and Beulah Street.
A company spokesperson tells FFXnow that a summer opening is anticipated. The restaurant is expected to hire around 100 people for the new restaurant.
Like others across the country, the Franconia restaurant will have an open grill dubbed a “Firebar” as its centerpiece.
Here’s more from the company on what’s in store:
Firebirds takes pride in its scratch kitchen, offering bold flavors and hand-cut, aged steaks and fresh seafood, which are cooked over an open flame visible from the restaurant’s dining room. The new restaurant in Fairfax County will offer staples from its extensive lunch, dinner and weekend brunch menus and features the concept’s striking FIREBAR®. This restaurant centerpiece offers Bar Bite features along with a full liquor bar and Firebirds’ signature martini, the Double Black Diamond® Martini, which is a masterful infusion of fresh pineapple and New Amsterdam® Pineapple Vodka, garnished with a juicy fresh pineapple slice.
Founded about 23 years ago in Charlotte, North Carolina, Firebirds has changed hands multiple times in recent years, most recently getting acquired in March by Garnett Station Partners — whose other investments include Kona Ice and the world’s largest Burger King franchisee.
Firebirds now has 56 locations across 20 states and plans to expand, with Northern Virginia as one focus area, according to FSR Magazine. The company’s only existing Virginia location is in Richmond.
Anchored by Amazon Fresh, Festival at Manchester Lakes is also expected to welcome First Watch, the daytime cafe, next spring.
First Watch is bringing its avocado toast and million dollar bacon to more spots around Fairfax County.
The fast-casual cafe, which serves made-to-order food and drinks for breakfast, brunch and lunch, will open at least two more locations in the county next year — with a third potentially also in the works.
First, a Franconia restaurant is on track to open next spring in Festival at Manchester Lakes (7027B Manchester Blvd), according to First Watch public relations manager Hunter Carpenter. It will occupy 4,500 square feet in a currently vacant corner building that once hosted Lucky’s Sports Theatre & Grill, per a site plan from property manager Regency Centers.
Carpenter also confirmed that First Watch will open at 12249 Fair Lakes Promenade Drive in fall 2024, replacing TGI Friday’s, as the Washington Business Journal reported this summer. The chain restaurant remains open for now, but its days are evidently numbered.
TGI Friday’s didn’t return a request for comment by press time.
“These restaurants will be our fourth and fifth locations in Fairfax County, respectively — and the newest additions to First Watch’s presence locally since its Bailey’s Crossroads opening in 2021,” Carpenter said.
With more than 500 restaurants nationwide, First Watch can also be found at Fair City Mall (9600 Main Street) in Fairfax and at Greenbriar Town Center (13027 Route 50) in Chantilly.
A permit currently under review by Fairfax County indicates that another cafe may be planned at Idylwood Plaza (7501 Leesburg Pike). The commercial alteration permit calls for a new storefront with interior and exterior wall demolition intended in part “to create a new covered patio area.”
Carpenter confirmed that First Watch has been “looking into new sites in the Falls Church area,” but no leases have been finalized yet. A public relations representative for Federal Realty, which manages Idylwood Plaza, said the company can’t provide any details until a lease is executed.
“[We] love the community and hope to grow there, but have not executed any recent leases yet and therefore have no new sites to announce at this time,” Carpenter told FFXnow. “We opened the doors to our first restaurant in Fairfax County nearly two decades ago, and we’re always looking for new ways to bring our take on breakfast, brunch and lunch to more of our neighbors.”
Started in Pacific Grove, California, in 1983, First Watch emphasizes its use of fresh ingredients and seasonal dishes that change five times a year based on “the position of the sun,” according to its website.
“This ever-evolving menu has included items like the Crab Avocado Toast, Barbacoa Quesadilla Benedict, Elote Mexican Street Corn Hash and Watermelon Wake-Up fresh juice, among many others,” Carpenter said.
The menu also includes classic breakfast foods like omelets, eggs benedict and pancakes, along with sandwiches, salads and quinoa bowls. Available drinks include a juice bar, iced coffee and cocktails for brunch.
According to Carpenter, some of the most popular menu items are avocado toast, lemon ricotta pancakes and the aforementioned Million Dollar Bacon, which is hardwood-smoked and baked with brown sugar, black pepper, cayenne and a maple syrup drizzle.
Both Franconia and Fair Lakes restaurants “are still in the construction and design phases,” he said. The dining rooms will have an “urban farm” style that combines “the rustic feel of a farmhouse with the modern elements of an urban loft.”
Fairfax County police are investigating potential connections between some recent ATM break-ins and armed robberies in the Lincolnia area.
Officers responded to the TD Bank in Pinecrest Plaza at 6566 Little River Turnpike around 3:08 a.m. yesterday (Tuesday) after getting a call that three people were attempting to “forcibly access” the ATM, according to a news release from the Fairfax County Police Department.
The individuals were reportedly unsuccessful, as officers found that the ATM was damaged but no money had been stolen, police said.
However, just minutes later at 3:13 a.m., police were called to the 7-Eleven at 4818 N. Beauregard Street — just outside the Plaza at Landmark shopping mall — for an armed robbery, according to the FCPD.
Officers are on scene of a robbery at the 7-Eleven at 4818 Beauregard St in Lincolnia. Multiple suspects entered the store, implied a gun, and stole the ATM. No injuries were reported. Suspects fled in a grey BMW w/ VA tags TNV1895. Call 911 w/ info. #FCPD pic.twitter.com/C1UTkhErgZ
— Fairfax County Police (@FairfaxCountyPD) November 7, 2023
“The suspects entered the store, implied they had a firearm and threatened the employee,” police said. “The suspects gained access to two separate ATMs at the business and left with an undisclosed amount of money.”
The FCPD believes the incidents were related, and detectives are investigating whether they might also be connected to a pair of ATM thefts, one of them involving a firearm, that occurred in Kingstowne last Thursday (Nov. 2).
On November 2 at 3:42 a.m., three suspects entered the 7-Eleven at 6147 Franconia Road in Kingstowne. The suspects displayed a firearm and stole money from the ATM. That morning, an employee reported someone attempted to steal money from the ATM at the Burke and Herbert Bank at 5519 Franconia Road. Detectives are investigating to determine if these cases are connected to the overnight incidents.
Alexandria police also responded to two robberies on Nov. 2 where the suspects reportedly took ATMs. In one case, they showed a handgun in the process.
The FCPD told FFXnow that “as of now,” it doesn’t have any information on the Alexandria incidents, but it is “diligently pursuing all leads to ensure the safety of our community.”
“Our dedicated detectives are collaborating closely with our regional law enforcement partners to thoroughly investigate any potential connections,” the FCPD said.
(Updated at 3:50 p.m.) Marcia St. John-Cunning no longer needs to run as a write-in candidate to become the Franconia District’s next school board representative.
The former Fairfax County Public Schools interpreter and family liaison re-qualified for the general election ballot yesterday (Wednesday) after a county judge let her submit two more pages of signatures supporting her petition for candidacy.
Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Richard Gardiner told Fairfax County General Registrar Eric Spicer to accept the 17 signatures “as if [they were] filed with the registrar in March 2023,” according to the order shared on Twitter shared by Bryan Grahm, chair of the Fairfax County Democratic Committee, which has endorsed Marcia St. John-Cunning.
The Fairfax County Office of Elections confirmed her reinstated candidacy with a notice on its website. A spokesperson said the general registrar had no comment beyond that notice.
“We are pleased by today’s order and elated to see her reinstated as a qualified candidate for School Board,” Graham said in a statement last night. “Marcia St. John-Cunning is an exemplary candidate who has worked in our local schools and knows the families of Franconia. The Fairfax County Democratic Committee will be using the next week to ensure Marcia wins this election.”
St. John-Cunning is competing against Republican-endorsed candidate Kevin Pinkney to succeed current Franconia District Representative Tamara Derenak-Kaufax, who is retiring after 12 years on the Fairfax County School Board.
Though she obtained the Democratic endorsement without contest, St. John-Cunning faced two legal challenges by Republicans who argued that petition errors should’ve stopped Fairfax County General Registrar Eric Spicer from certifying her candidacy. A September lawsuit by the Fairfax County Republican Committee that took issue with the lack of dates by some signatures was dismissed.
However, a complaint filed by the 8th Congressional District Republican Committee and two voters in that district found traction with Gardiner, who ruled on Oct. 25 that 11 of St. John-Cunning’s submitted signatures were invalid because her address was wrong on one page of her petition.
The invalidation of those signatures left St. John-Cunning short of the 125 needed to qualify.
St. John-Cunning called the ruling “unprecedented” in an announcement on Saturday (Oct. 28) that she would run as a write-in candidate. With early voting underway since Sept. 22, more than 3,000 Franconia District voters had already cast a ballot, her campaign said.
According to the FCDC, St. John-Cunning’s legal team argued in court yesterday that the signatures should’ve been challenged before the filing deadline on Aug. 18, noting that she had gotten more signatures but didn’t submit them because the registrar said they weren’t necessary to qualify. Her candidacy was originally certified back on March 7.
In a statement, St. John-Cunning called Gardiner’s reinstatement of her candidacy “justice for the 3,000 residents who already exercised their constitutional right to vote.” Read More
(Updated at 11:10 a.m. on 10/30/2023) The Democratic-endorsed candidate for the Fairfax County School Board’s Franconia District seat has been disqualified due to an error on her petition to get on the ballot.
The Fairfax County Office of Elections has posted a notice on its website informing voters that Marcia St. John-Cunning was disqualified yesterday (Wednesday) by a Fairfax County Circuit Court order. A judge ruled that her petition was invalid because of an error in her address on its front page.
St. John-Cunning, a former Fairfax County Public Schools interpreter and family liaison, is competing against Republican-endorsed Kevin Pinkney, a lawyer, to succeed Tamara Derenak-Kaufax, who announced in January that she wouldn’t seek reelection after 12 years on the school board.
(Correction: The spelling of Kevin Pinkney’s name has been fixed.)
Though the school board races are nonpartisan, candidates can get political party endorsements. The Fairfax County Democratic Committee (FCDC) allowed registered members to vote for its endorsements for the first time this year, though St. John-Cunning’s bid for support in the Franconia District was uncontested.
The complaint that led to St. John-Cunning’s disqualification was filed by the 8th Congressional District Republican Committee and two voters in that district, who argued that Fairfax County General Registrar and Director of Elections Eric Spicer should’ve invalidated her ballot petition over the address error, Patch reported.
Judge Richard Gardiner ruled that Spicer “violated his non-discretionary ministerial duty” by not invalidating the seventh page of St. John-Cunning’s petition, according to his order.
“The pages denoted as ‘4’ in the lower right corner does not have her address on the front page,” the order said. “Therefore, this petition page and the signatures on the front and back page are invalid as a matter of law.”
Eleven signatures were deemed invalid, putting St. John-Cunning below the 125 signatures needed to get on the ballot, according to Patch.
A previous lawsuit that took issue with six signatures on her petition was dismissed.
The Fairfax County Republican Committee and an attorney for the plaintiffs praised Gardiner’s ruling as “a clear victory for the rule of law.”
“The public’s confidence in the integrity of our elections depends on the law being applied consistently to all candidates, regardless of party or position,” the attorney, Trey Mayfield, said. “It is the duty of Election Registrar and County Electoral Board to ensure that elections are managed with uniform, law-based standards. They should do so without the courts having to order them to perform those obligations.”
The FCDC, however, blasted Gardiner and the Virginia Department of Elections for disqualifying its supported candidate, stating that the ruling disenfranchises the over 3,000 Franconia District voters who’ve cast a ballot since early voting for the Nov. 7 general election began on Sept. 22. Read More
