Construction is underway at Springfield Plaza on a new Container Store.
Last year, the retailer specializing in storage and organization solutions signed a lease for a roughly 15,000-square-foot space in the shopping center at 7206 Old Keene Mill Road, according to the Washington Business Journal, which said the business anticipated a summer 2024 opening.
During a recent visit, FFXnow observed that former retail spaces have been gutted, and construction appears to be in its initial phase.
Rappaport, the property owner, declined to comment on whether the project is on track.
The Container Store is known for its kitchen and pantry organization products, closet storage systems, shelving, office supplies, and travel accessories. The business didn’t respond to inquiries about its opening schedule before publication.
This new outpost adds to the company’s more than 200 locations nationwide, including two in Fairfax County (Reston and Tysons) and one in Arlington. It will join a nearly 50,000-square-foot Whole Foods that opened at the shopping center last October, replacing the former Giant.
Big Blue Swim School is ready to make another splash in Fairfax County.
The school is slated to open at Springfield Plaza this Saturday (Aug. 5). A grand opening ceremony is slated for 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 7202 Old Keene Mill Road.
A barbecue food truck will be on-site, and arts and crafts are planned inside the school. Registration is open online.
Tom Dolan, a franchise partner of the school, told FFXnow that the company chose the location because of the market demand in the area.
“The shopping center has fantastic retailers and with three grocery stores, it is a highly sought after destination for Springfield and the greater Fairfax County families,” Dolan said.
The school offers lessons for children ages 3 months and up. Currently, the school will be open on Monday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Tuesday through Friday from 3:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. On the weekend, the school is open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Customers can schedule multiple kids of different levels and ages during the same 30-45-minute timeframe.
Competitive swimmer Chris DeJong founded the business in 2009 in Wilmette Illinois. The Springfield location is the 29th in the country and the fifth in Northern Virginia, joining sites in Fairfax, the Fair Oaks area, Falls Church, and Dulles.
Trader Joe’s is gearing up to relocate from its current site in Springfield.
The grocer plans to relocate from Springfield Plaza on Old Keene Mill Road to another location 3 miles down the street, a company representative told FFXnow.
The grocer will take the place of Whole Foods Market at Old Keene Mill Center (8424 Old Keene Mill Road). Whole Foods is bouncing over to Springfield Plaza, where it has been building out a significantly larger space.
But the move for Trader Joe’s isn’t expected to go into effect for another “year or so,” the staff person told FFXnow.
A public relations manager for Trader Joe’s did not indicate when the store expects to open in the new location.
“We consider many locations. All of the locations that are opening soon are listed on our website. Unfortunately, West Springfield is not on the list at this time,” the company wrote in a statement to FFXnow.
Earlier this year, the Washington Business Journal reported that Trader Joe’s had executed a lease for the Old Keene Mill Center space, but Springfield Plaza property owner Rappaport suggested at the time that the grocery store could still retain its existing location.
Trader Joe’s lease at Springfield Plaza is currently set to expire on Jan. 31, 2024, according to the WBJ.
Photo via Google Maps
(Updated at 9:15 a.m. on 9/1/2022) A new gym has opened in the Town of Vienna.
The Australian fitness company F45 celebrated the grand opening of its latest franchise at 322 Maple Avenue West on Saturday (Aug. 27). The event was considered a success, according to an Instagram post.
Businesses local to the D.C. area like Greenheart Juice Shop and Vegetable and Butcher participated in the event, which featured massages, food, live music, and vitamin injections.
F45 Vienna says classes are at 5:45 a.m., 6:45 a.m., 8 a.m., and 9:15 a.m. as well as in the evenings. The website says the gym offers cardio, resistance, hybrid and recovery workouts on different days of the week.
The gym is located next to the forthcoming YamaChen Sushi, which has now been under construction for almost a year. An employee at the restaurant’s Fairfax location said she doesn’t know when the Vienna one will open.
Known for its high intensity interval training workouts, F45 has grown rapidly in Fairfax County since 2019, adding franchises in Tysons, the Mosaic District, Fairfax Corner, Fairfax Circle, and Reston. The company says it’s the fastest-growing gym franchise in the world.
Yet another studio is in the works at Springfield Plaza. That location is on track for an opening in November or December, a pre-sales representative for the franchise told FFXnow.
(Updated at 10:40 a.m.) Pupatella Neopolitan Pizza is officially serving up its signature Neopolitan pizza in Springfield.
The Arlington-based business opened at the Old Keene Mill Shopping Center at 8434 Old Keene Mill Road yesterday (Tuesday), according to Pupatella Chief Operating Officer and partner Michael Berger. (Correction: This article previously said the business was in Springfield Plaza.)
“We will open with limited hours for the first few days,” Berger told FFXnow.
This week’s hours run from noon to 3 p.m. and between 5 and 9 p.m. through tomorrow (Thursday). After that, the restaurant will have regular hours from 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, and from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.
With a full round of funding, the business has been rapidly expanding in the area, most recently with a location at the Mosaic District in Merrifield. The pizza eatery has other locations in Richmond, Dupont Circle, and Arlington. A location in D.C. is planned at 301 Massachusetts Avenue and in Leesburg at 50 East Market Street.
Reston welcomed a new Pupatella in 2020, replacing an iconic Pizza Hut in the area.
The former home of Giant will soon welcome another grocer.
Permit documents suggest Whole Foods Market plans to open at 6426 Springfield Plaza, a county spokesperson told FFXnow in a statement, supporting rumors circulating among local residents and employees in the shopping center.
Extensive construction on the site — which was home to Giant before it was renovated and moved to a larger space in the plaza — is currently underway.
But it’s still unclear what’s in store for the Whole Foods Market in Old Keene Mill Shopping Center in Springfield.
Whole Foods declined multiple requests for comment from FFXnow on its plans for Springfield, including whether or not the current location plans to relocate.
A company spokesperson simply noted that a location in Springfield is “in development.”
Based on plaza leasing materials, the new location has a significantly larger footprint.
Representatives for Rappaport, a commercial real estate management company of the plaza, repeatedly declined comment.
Lee District Supervisor Rodney Lusk’s office, which represents the area, told FFXnow that it had not been “directly informed by the Springfield Plaza owners or managers as to what the new tenant located at 6426 Springfield Plaza will be.”
However, the office says it obtained publicly available documents related to a permit for renovations on the site. The permit is listed in the county’s FIDO database for a “future tenant.”
“Upon a request to Land Development Services (LDS) from the Supervisor’s office, we were able to discern from the application documents of permit # 220400083 that the name ‘Whole Foods’ would be the name placed upon the new frontage of the building,” Lusk’s office said by email.
Fatimah Waseem, Angela Woolsey and Brandi Bottalico contributed to this report.
