December 17 – 23, 2020
FA LLS CHUR C H, V I R G I NI A • WW W. FC NP. C OM • FR EE
FOU N D E D 1991 • V OL. X XX NO. 44
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Pandemic Slows West End Project Timeline Virtual Town Hall Today at Noon on Revisions BY NICHOLAS F. BENTON
FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS
The West End Gateway Partners, who over the last two years have come to contract with the City of Falls Church to undertake an ambitious 10-acre mixed use development at the City’s west end, has requested major revisions in their plans under conditions of the global Covid-19 pandemic. A special public town hall to outline the changes is scheduled to be held online this Thursday, Dec. 17 at noon. The Council held two lengthy closed sessions on the subject prior to Monday’s public announcement, which was made in the interest of transparency. The changes involve a reduction in the partnership’s annual
capital ground base payments to the City from $7 million to $4.3 million, and with ground rent increases, a net $3.2 million loss to the City and a six-month delay in its implementation. One major concern by the Council was the group’s commitment to the demolition of the old high school on the site by May 29, 2021, and the developers — representatives of EYA and Hoffman — provided assurances that it would happen by that target date. Otherwise, the developers assured the City Council of its ongoing commitment to the overall project, although some modifications in the mix might reflect changes in the economic trends post-Covid, such as a glut
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ENJOYING THE SNOW on Wednesday — before warming temperatures turned it into rain later in the day — was this family, who went sledding in Cherry Hill Park. (P����: C������� S���� P���)
Downtown Project Returns With Cosmopolitan Redesign BY NICHOLAS F. BENTON
FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS
Atlantic Realty, which up until the Great Recession of 2007 had won approval for a major downtown Falls Church mixed use plan, came to the Economic Development Committee of the F.C. City Council last Friday
morning with a somewhat more modest revival of that plan and is ready to move ahead. The new plan, which will require four separate special exception approvals from the Council, will cover 5.82 acres at the intersection of W. Broad and S. Washington, directly across that major intersection
diagonally from the equally massive Whole Food-based project that the Insight Property group is moving through the City’s approval process now. Atlantic had the original downtown mega-plan for the City involving $340 million in development and encompassing the bowling alley and a
wider neighborhood before the Great Recession brought it to a screeching halt. Last week, connecting virtually in the online meeting, some of the same principals from Atlantic, including Adam Schulman who is a dozen years older than the last time the Council saw him but doesn’t
look it, laid out their plan to fill the entire City block that takes up the three George Mason Square buildings (anchored by the Ireland’s Four Provinces restaurant), the vacated BB&T bank building, a two-story parking garage and a tailor shop. The plan is to renovate the three George Mason Square buildings and demolish every-
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Mary Jo West, George Mason High School’s music teacher and band director, has been selected for the Fulbright Teachers for Global Classrooms, a program sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. SEE COMMUNITY NEWS & NOTES, PAGE 11
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Scout leader John Neville said sales were good this year — so much, that it matched all the national news stories about soaring Christmas tree sales. Sure enough, three days later and the lot was no more. Every tree they had was sold off. SEE STORY, PAGE 19
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It was a cinch to find parking at short-term Lot B and walk to the beautiful park that hosts the reconstructed ruins of Abingdon Plantation. SEE COLUMN, PAGE 15
INDEX Editorial............................................... 6 Letters................................................. 6 News & Notes................................... 11 Comment ................................ 7,12,13 Crime Report .................................... 12 Calendar ........................................... 14 Business News ................................. 15 Classified Ads ................................... 16 Comics, Sudoku & Crossword ......... 17 Critter Corner.................................... 18