Fe b r u a r y 2 8 – M a rc h 6 , 2 0 1 9
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 • Vol. X XIX N o. 2
Falls Church • Tysons Corner • Merrifield • McLean • North Arlington • Bailey’s Crossroads
Inside This Week Mt. Daniel Vandalized With Swastika Vandalism over the weekend at Falls Church’s Mount Daniel Elementary School included a swastika slashed into one of the playground’s shade canopies. See News Briefs, page 9
F.C. Man Killed in Route 7 Hit & Run
A 72-year-old Falls Church man was struck and killed while crossing an on-ramp for I-495 on Route 7 Tuesday morning. Police report the driver did not stop and fled the scene.
West End Project Wins F.C. Council Preliminary ‘Special Exception’ OK All Members Art
Ambitious Plan Now Goes to Plethora of F.C. Citizen Groups
by Nicholas F. Benton
Falls Church News-Press
chief architect, Derk Jeffrey of Quinn Evans, who said the latest iteration marked a significant set of improvements since the earlier draft designs were first presented to the public for review last summer. “A lot of the changes have been based on the feedback loop from
By a unanimous 6-0 vote (one member absent) the Falls Church City Council Monday gave preliminary approval of a “special exception entitlement” for the Falls Church Gateway Partners, the team of EYA, PN Hoffman and Regency that has been given interim approval to develop a dense, creative economic powerhouse on the site where George Mason High School currently sits. It’s the next big step in the multi-faceted effort to transform the 10.38 acre school site with a state-of-the-art new high school (see story, left) and 1.5 million square feet of combined commercial, retail, residential and community spaces that it is hoped will link up with redevelopment efforts on the adjacent Virginia Tech and WMATA properties to transform almost 40 acres into a powerful economic, transportation and higher education engine, complementing plans for the Amazon HQ2 campus in nearby Arlington. For the City of Falls Church’s sake it is a matter of eliciting a project from the development parties that most recently transformed the D.C. waterfront that will not only pay for the new high school, but provide the City with upwards of $5 million a year in net new revenue, over and above the calculated costs of including 1,000 new residential units at the site.
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See News Briefs, page 9
Bank Robbed in Bailey’s Crossroads Safeway
Fairfax County police report that a man wearing sunglasss and a fake beard robbed a SunTrust Bank located inside of a Bailey’s Crossroads Safeway last week and are now asking the public to help identify the suspect. See Sports, page 14
Mason Boys Fall In Region Final
With the title of “Region B champion” on the line, George Mason High School’s boys basketball team fell just short to East Rockingham High School. See page 16
A REPORTED 600 OVER the course of the evening last Saturday packed into the opening night of the newest Falls Church Arts “All Members” exhibition. and a reported seven works of art, most by local artists, were sold. The show continues. The adjacent Famille cafe catered Saturday’s event. (Photo: Barbara Cram)
Final Conceptual Design of New High School Set Friday
by Nicholas F. Benton
Falls Church News-Press
Index
Editorial................ 6 Letters..............6, 8 News & Notes.10–11 Comment...... 12–13 Business News.. 15 Sports................ 16
Calendar...... 18–19 Classified Ads.... 20 Comics, Sudoku & Crossword......... 21 Crime Report..... 22 Critter Corner..... 22
The final submission of extravagant design documents for the construction of a new George Mason High School is scheduled to be provided tomorrow, the next big benchmark development for the $120 million project that is scheduled to begin as soon as
classes let out from the current school site in mid-June. The first shovel in the ground is expected on June 15, with the projected completion date being December 2020. Over 60 citizens attending a town hall at the F.C. Community Center on Sunday were provided the latest version of the new school design by the project’s