Ballston Mall - What is going in after Macy’s?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wish it was some retail. There’s really nowhere to buy kids clothes in North Arlington anymore.

There's Georgetown, Pentagon, and Tysons. All close to N Arlington. Downtown has Macys as well right above Metro. There's no room for a successful shopping district in Ballston.

[Anonymous]

Maybe an Erewhon will open at the Ballston Macys site. The developer had said D.C. is a new market for this particular grocery store.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wish it was some retail. There’s really nowhere to buy kids clothes in North Arlington anymore.

There's Georgetown, Pentagon, and Tysons. All close to N Arlington. Downtown has Macys as well right above Metro. There's no room for a successful shopping district in Ballston.

+ Mosaic is 10-15 down the road too. That’s become our go-to - easier parking than Georgetown and none of the youth craziness that comes with Pentagon City.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To answer the original question - 553 apartments with a Whole Foods on the ground floor is going to replace Macy's

https://ipgapts.com/property/macys-ballston/

That links says nothing about a Whole Foods. As much as I'd love one, it could be Mom's, Aldi, Trader Joe's (which would be better!!).

I have lived near the Safeway for over 20 years. Earlier PP was correct that NIMBYs messed up the redevelopment of that parcel. I think it's been 10 years, though. I'm not sure that's long enough for those who opposed it to have left.

It's supposed to be a grocery store that is just now or will soon enter the DC market. Probably a Sprouts Organic or a Publix, which is already in Richmond and moving up this way.

You are behind the times. Publix has three stores in Fredericksburg/Stafford and is planning stores in Manassas and Winchester, all of which are much closer than Richmond.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wish it was some retail. There’s really nowhere to buy kids clothes in North Arlington anymore.

There's Georgetown, Pentagon, and Tysons. All close to N Arlington. Downtown has Macys as well right above Metro. There's no room for a successful shopping district in Ballston.

+ Mosaic is 10-15 down the road too. That’s become our go-to - easier parking than Georgetown and none of the youth craziness that comes with Pentagon City.

And there is a small shopping district in Clarendon, with some stores aimed at small kids and toddlers like Kinder Haus. Barnes & Noble will reopen next year. But it is lacking compared with The Mosaic and Georgetown. Old Town Alexandria also has family-oriented shopping options. Just a 20 min drive down the Parkway from Spout Run.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wish it was some retail. There’s really nowhere to buy kids clothes in North Arlington anymore.

There's Georgetown, Pentagon, and Tysons. All close to N Arlington. Downtown has Macys as well right above Metro. There's no room for a successful shopping district in Ballston.

+ Mosaic is 10-15 down the road too. That’s become our go-to - easier parking than Georgetown and none of the youth craziness that comes with Pentagon City.

It's a shame Pentagon can't implement a youth chaperone policy since the mall caters to the busloads of middle schools and youth groups that are visiting DC. I've avoided that mall for years due to all the shenanigans / flash mobs / fights, not from those kids, but likely local teens from across the river.

The mall still makes plenty of money from tourists hence the plethora of high end stores, so it should survive and remain healthy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hopefully a Safeway will move in. They are pricey but decent selection overall. The nearby Safeways haven’t been renovated since the 70s or 80s and aren’t worth the trip.

The Safeway on Wilson Blvd. was renovated a year ago and both the Cherrydale and Lee-Harrison Safeways were renovated in the last few years. They may not be worth the trip for you, but they have very high profits per square foot, particularly the Lee-Harrison Safeway.

The Safeway on Wilson (near Geo Mason) is a joke - tiny - basically a glorified convenience store. Safeway has tried to upgrade it to a real grocery store several times - but NIMBYs Bluemont have successfully blocked it.

Didn’t the Bluemont Civic Assn sponsor a design competition for the Safeway site a few years back (before covid). A young architecture student won top prize—his winning entry had 5 or six levels of mixed income housing above a brand new, ground level Safeway store with large picture windows to let in natural light. I think the County Board or Staff was against it and no developer stepped forward. The neighborhood was all “gung ho” about the project idea at the time. The neighborhood may have changed its tune since. That was roughly a generation ago after all.

Bluemont NIMBYs screwed the neighborhood when they pulled the stunts they did in the 2010s to block the earlier redevelopment. It would have revitalized that whole strip. I bet we wouldn’t still have an AMP down the road that’s open till midnight 7 days a week (if you want a good laugh, order takeout from La Union and see if you can catch a glance at the men entering / exiting the AMP).

But the NIMBYs like abandoned buildings and sex trafficking apparently?

Shame - has a lot of potential esp given the proximity to Ballston but no developer is going to engage with Bluemont again after that whole debacle.

Someone should really stake out that AMP and start posting photos of men online. That APD allows it to operate is disgraceful.

[Anonymous]

I hate my community association. They kept the Wilson Safeway from being redone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hate my community association. They kept the Wilson Safeway from being redone.

There’s no chance this will be revisited anytime soon, correct? I want to shop at that Safeway but it always smells really bad (especially the closer to the back you get).

I’d also LOVE a coffee shop in the immediate area near Safeway without having to go to AF (La Coop, which I do love) or Ballston. I guess 7-11 meets this but… no thanks. Another one we can add to the bulldoze list.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hate my community association. They kept the Wilson Safeway from being redone.

There’s no chance this will be revisited anytime soon, correct? I want to shop at that Safeway but it always smells really bad (especially the closer to the back you get).

I’d also LOVE a coffee shop in the immediate area near Safeway without having to go to AF (La Coop, which I do love) or Ballston. I guess 7-11 meets this but… no thanks. Another one we can add to the bulldoze list.

Arlington Now reported a new coffee shop will open in nearby Westover Village soon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wish it was some retail. There’s really nowhere to buy kids clothes in North Arlington anymore.

There's Georgetown, Pentagon, and Tysons. All close to N Arlington. Downtown has Macys as well right above Metro. There's no room for a successful shopping district in Ballston.

+ Mosaic is 10-15 down the road too. That’s become our go-to - easier parking than Georgetown and none of the youth craziness that comes with Pentagon City.

Arlington should make ballston parking free for 3 hours, not 1 dollar, and make the payment system paper tickets. The whole app QR code is very fussy. But ballston is too empty, I wish it was like mosaic, I can’t believe how an industrial park in terrified is booming. There’s still nothing around it, it’s an oasis.

[Anonymous]

I found an old article about the Bluemont Safeway redevelopment from 2013. It's interesting reading all the comments.

https://www.arlnow.com/2013/04/25/bluemont-residents-reject-proposed-safeway-development/

I was living on Columbia Pike at that time, so my mind was on the potential streetcar that was proposed, but got rejected.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I found an old article about the Bluemont Safeway redevelopment from 2013. It's interesting reading all the comments.

https://www.arlnow.com/2013/04/25/bluemont-residents-reject-proposed-safeway-development/

I was living on Columbia Pike at that time, so my mind was on the potential streetcar that was proposed, but got rejected.

Well most of those people who spoke out against the mixed use Safeway/Starbucks proposal almost 15 years ago have likely since retired and moved out of the neighborhood to retirement communities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wish it was some retail. There’s really nowhere to buy kids clothes in North Arlington anymore.

There's Georgetown, Pentagon, and Tysons. All close to N Arlington. Downtown has Macys as well right above Metro. There's no room for a successful shopping district in Ballston.

+ Mosaic is 10-15 down the road too. That’s become our go-to - easier parking than Georgetown and none of the youth craziness that comes with Pentagon City.

Arlington should make ballston parking free for 3 hours, not 1 dollar, and make the payment system paper tickets. The whole app QR code is very fussy. But ballston is too empty, I wish it was like mosaic, I can’t believe how an industrial park in terrified is booming. There’s still nothing around it, it’s an oasis.

Hear hear. Sometimes I skip Ballston because I hate the stupid parking system so much but used to go much more frequently. Would love to see that change

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wish it was some retail. There’s really nowhere to buy kids clothes in North Arlington anymore.

There's Georgetown, Pentagon, and Tysons. All close to N Arlington. Downtown has Macys as well right above Metro. There's no room for a successful shopping district in Ballston.

+ Mosaic is 10-15 down the road too. That’s become our go-to - easier parking than Georgetown and none of the youth craziness that comes with Pentagon City.

Arlington should make ballston parking free for 3 hours, not 1 dollar, and make the payment system paper tickets. The whole app QR code is very fussy. But ballston is too empty, I wish it was like mosaic, I can’t believe how an industrial park in terrified is booming. There’s still nothing around it, it’s an oasis.

Hear hear. Sometimes I skip Ballston because I hate the stupid parking system so much but used to go much more frequently. Would love to see that change

The parking will never be free because the county issued bonds still not paid off to expand the garage and redevelop the mall decades ago in the early 80s. So it's not like The Mosaic or Tysons.