March 5 — 11, 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. XXX No. 3
Falls Church • Tysons Corner • Merrifield • McLean • North Arlington • Bailey’s Crossroads
Founders Row Phase 2? Mill Creek Moving to Acquire Vacant Rite Aid Developers Seeking Contracts on Sites Across Street From Current City Project
by Nicholas F. Benton
Falls Church News-Press
The Economic Development Committee of the Falls Church City Council got the news at its meeting last Thursday from Joe Muffler, managing director of Mill Creek developers, that the 4.3 acre Founders Row mixed-use project now coming out of the ground at West Broad and N. West Streets may be augmented with a twoacre “phase two” right across the street. Muffler confirmed to the NewsPress in an interview Tuesday that his firm is “very excited” to be “working very hard” on securing a
contract on the now-vacant spaces catty-corner from the Founders Row project that have housed a carpet store and the shuttered Rite Aid store. Muffler has been the face for years to the City on Mill Creek’s efforts that finally won the OK for its Founders Row, and is now hopeful, he said, about plans to come back to City officials in the next two or three months with a proposal for the Phase Two project. He said a lot of work needs to be done yet on what, exactly, may go on the new site and how it might be integrated with the existing project underway.
MILL CREEK, developers of the Founders Row project under construction in Falls Church, are seeking to acquire two vacant properties, across the street from its current project, at the corner of W. Broad and West Streets. (Photo: Nick Gatz, News-Press) The Founders Row project will include a dine-in movie theater complex in addition to ample residential housing and restaurant amenities. It is thought that Phase
Two, while being mixed use, might have less commercial space. Muffler emphasized that he is not at liberty yet to talk about what could happen on the new site,
since contract negotiations have not yet been completed. But made his presentation at an open meet-
Continued on Page 5
Huge Turnout in City of F.C. Tuesday Reflective of National Trend by Nicholas F. Benton
Falls Church News-Press
In the “Super Tuesday” Democratic primaries Tuesday, with former Vice President Joe Biden winning in Virginia statewide by a 53.3 percent margin
to 23.7 percent for his primary contender Sen. Bernie Sanders, voters in the City of Falls Church responded with a near record turnout for a primary, according to City Voter Registrar David Bjerke. With votes tabulated Tuesday night, Biden won 2,354 votes to
906 for Sen. Elizabeth Warren, 881 for Sanders and 527 for Mike Bloomberg. The 4,891 total ballots cast was 48 percent of all active voters in the City. An interesting factor was the fact that in absentee ballots cast in advance, all six frontrunner candi-
dates were closely bunched (141 for Warren, 115 for Biden, 99 for Bloomberg, 98 for Sanders, 92 for Amy Klobuchar and 90 for Pete Buttigieg) compared to the wide margin for Biden Tuesday night (Klobuchar and Buttigieg both having dropped out last weekend
to throw their support to Biden). The pattern seemed to fit what was going on all across the U.S. Tuesday, where an enormous number of voters were energized at the last minute to get to the polls
Continued on Page 4
Inside This Week City Announces No July 4 Fireworks Show This Year
Enterprising Teens Look to Fill Glass Recycling Pickup Void
See News Briefs, page 9
See story, page 8
The City of Falls Church announced that its 40-year tradition of an Independence Day fireworks show will be suspended this year due to the construction on the new George Mason High School currently taking place. Plans are for the fireworks to return in 2021.
Brothers Danny, 14, and Jonathan Oppenheimer, 17, both students at George Mason High School, have seized the opportunity to rescue residents who no longer enjoy the luxury of curbside glass pickup, a service the City terminated last month.
Press Pass with Rockin’ the Suburbs
Northern Virginia’s own “Rockin’ the Suburbs” podcast from Falls Church’s Patrick Foster and Ashburn resident Jim Lenahan will take their show to Jammin’ Java’s stage next Wednesday. See Press Pass, page 14
Index
Editorial........................................................ 6 Letters.......................................................... 6 News & Notes.....................................10–11 Comment........................................7,12–13 Business News..........................................15 Sports........................................................16 Calendar.............................................18–19 Classified Ads............................................20 Comics, Sudoku & Crossword..................21 Crime Report.............................................22 Critter Corner.............................................22
