Fairfax County is seeking public input on a new name and brand for Original Mount Vernon High School ahead of its redevelopment.

The county’s Department of Public Works and Environmental Services recently launched a survey that asks community members to consider feelings evoked by a new name, inspirations for the new name and themed word pairings.

The survey is available in English, Spanish and Arabic, and responses will be accepted until this Sunday, Feb. 11.

Mount Vernon District Supervisor Dan Storck says the Board of Supervisors doesn’t have any names in mind for the former school, which is being turned into a community facility, so the survey will help inform the decision-making process.

“[People] can think a bit more focused about the building itself and what its plans are,” Storck said. “We’re truly looking for input…The only name we have is one nobody wants to keep.”

Built in 1939, the Original Mount Vernon High School is listed as a historic place on both the state and national registers, but Fairfax County started exploring options to reuse the building at 8333 Richmond Highway once the long-term lease was vacated in 2016.

Following a master plan finalized in 2019, the county is turning the 84-year-old building into an accessible public facility with teen and senior centers, a gym and early childhood programs as well as educational programs to support workforce development, business incubation spaces, visual/performing arts programs and event spaces.

According to the county’s webpage for the project, the survey is intended to “ensure the new name and brand reflect the vibrancy of the community.”

“Your responses will help [the county] understand the priorities, values and preferences of [the] community and help us develop a new brand identity and name that are appealing to the entire community,” the project webpage reads.

Storck encouraged everyone in the county to take the survey.

“The county overall is funding [the project],” Storck said. “There are lots of folks who used to live in the district who have connections and still visit here.”

Rendering via Fairfax County

Fairfax County is looking to convert the Original Mount Vernon High School into a collection of public facilities, including possibly an early childhood center, a senior center, a performing arts space and a business incubator.

The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors is seeking a special exception amendment that will allow the county to turn the 84-year-old, now-vacated high school into an accessible public facility with a variety of proposed uses.

Potential uses listed in the application, which was filed last week, include a gym, an early childhood education center, a teen and senior center, a culinary and business incubator, visual and performing arts space, a welcome center, a commercial kitchen for education, and space for nonprofit programs focused on education, career and workforce development and financial literacy.

“Developing a cohesive facility with creative open spaces and classroom areas will nurture these coalitions and support the exchange of ideas and shared innovation,” the application says. “Design concepts will allow for flexibility and adaptability, so the spaces are changeable based on future needs.”

The special exception amendment was actually approved by the Board of Supervisors on Sept. 13, 2022, and a design and site plan are in the works, Mount Vernon District Supervisor Dan Storck reported on June 6.

However, in March, the Virginia Supreme Court struck down the county’s updated zoning ordinance, which created the “Alternative Use of Historic Buildings” category that is the basis of the proposed conversion. The ordinance has since been readopted, but the application has been resubmitted and is going through the approval process again as a precaution, Storck said.

The school’s location in the Mount Vernon District makes it ideal for a multi-use public facility, playing a “critical role” in providing educational opportunities to those in the Route 1 corridor, according to the application.

A special exception is needed to convert the 140,000 square-foot, 22-acre property at 8333 Richmond Highway due to its historical nature.

Once part of George Washington’s original estate, the school opened in early 1940 and its Colonial Revival buildings were constructed under the federal Public Works Administration program. The school was initially only open to white students, due to Jim Crow segregation that was common across Northern Virginia.

The Original Mount Vernon High School is listed on both the Virginia Historic Landmarks Register and National Register of Historic Places.

The county has been planning for its adaptive reuse since at least 2016. The facility is already hosting a renovated and reopened gym, a satellite Fire Marshal’s Office and a Fairfax County Public Schools registration site.

But the county wants to add a lot more. Under the proposal, the building would be in use for up to 17 hours a day, with the early childhood education center opening as early as 6 a.m. and the community spaces closing as late as 11 p.m.

The hope is to design the building so it can accommodate up to 2,000 people on a daily basis, per the application.

To accommodate a requirement that new additions to buildings on the Virginia Historic Landmarks Register “distinguish themselves from the existing historic building,” the welcome center would have an all-glass facade with a small section of red brick.

The application is scheduled for a planning commission public hearing on Sept. 13, which will be followed by a hearing before the Board of Supervisors on Sept. 26.

Fairfax County is looking for proposals to create a food-centric business accelerator and entrepreneurship center at a historic school.

The Original Mount Vernon High School, once part of President George Washington’s estate, has a former locker room that the county wants to develop.

The county’s Department of Economic Initiatives started gauging interest on Feb. 24 in applicants who could lease the 12,000-square-foot, lower-level space.

“This effort will serve as an anchor tenant in the building and contribute to the enhancement and activation of the larger campus,” a request for proposals page says.

The request is part of an effort to redevelop the school building. A gym has already been renovated and opened, and other parts of the site are being used as a satellite Fire Marshal’s Office for the South County area, a Fairfax County Public Schools registration site, and a teen/senior center.

The county says future development at the site could include “a theatre, space for education and workforce development, childcare, and a separate technology-based business center.”

The 22-acre property along Route 1 is part of state and national registers of historic places. The school was built in 1939 under the federally funded Public Works Administration with additions throughout the decades.

The school originally only allowed white students and didn’t desegregate until 1965.

As part of the development, respondents must show how the changes would advance racial and social equity.

Responses must be sent by the end of the month. The project page lists contact information and other details.