Reston Citizen

The Giant grocery store will be shutting it’s doors on November 28th. The Reston Times is reporting the stores general manager Tams Bauer has confirmed the closure. A simple sign alerts customers the pharmacy will close on November 16th, and that records will be transfered to the South Lakes Safeway.

By this months end 49,366 out of 74,000 square feet will be empty, or two thirds of the centers retail space. The Giant is the latest of several closures, including the Burger King, and Hollywood Video stores.

Tall Oaks is centered away from major roads, which may have lead to it’s decline. For years the Giant maintained dim light, and poor displays. But many residents of the Tall Oaks at Reston senior center are disappointed to see the Giant leave. Giant is in the middle of restructuring, closing some stores, renovating others, and opening ones in better locations.

Virginia Tech will be entering into paternership with several private companies to upgrade buildings in the Washington area. The Chesapeake Bay Journal reports the Reston International Center is one of the about one hundred area buildings to be retrofitted.

Under the partnership, Virginia Tech, secured $500 million in loans to be given to property owners. The improvements will reduce electricity bills by 20%-50% depending on the buildings condition. Money saved from electricity bills will be used to repay the loans.

PRA International, headquartered near the Target store, is moving it’s headquarters to Raleigh, North Carolina. The medical research company employees 500 at it’s Reston headquarters.

North Carolina lured the company with over seven million in benefits. PRA is moving “To be closer to it’s clients.” It also sites the large labor pool. The median income at PRA International is $75,000, versus the $35,000 for Wake County. The announcement follows AOLs decision to leave the Dulles Technology Corridor for New York City.

JBG, the company that owns the Reston International center, and two other nearby buildings has plans to build an 18 story residential tower, along with 4 shorter office and residential buildings.

The companies initial plan calls for 498 units spread between four buildings. Each building would also have ground level retail. The office building would be 10 stories, and include 210,000 square feet of space. Presumably the buildings would require demolition of the strip mall and standalone Chilis, and be constructed on the cleared land.

But there is community resistance, as the Reston Connection is reporting. A member of Restons Planning and Zoning committee has called the design, “A monstrosity.” He added, “You want to develop this site as dense as you can and make a lot of money,” he told JBG. He also says, “The project does not meet Fairfax Counties transit oriented design (TOD) principles , because the development is across the street (Reston Parkway) from the station entrance.”

But JBG has proposed building additional bike/pedestrian connections, which would probably be in the form of an overpass, as is common in Rosslyn, another successful TOD community. Stephen Cerny, another Planning and Zoning member seemed to appreciate JBGs additional improvements saying, “I’m eager to see what you come up with here,” referring to the fact that JBG will build many affordable units, as opposed to giving the county money to do that.

Volkswagen has announced plans to move it’s American headquarters to bordering Woodland Park in Herndon. The move comes amid corporate reshuffling and lagging sales in America.

The companies strongest sales are on the East Coast, and they figured they’d abandon their Detroit headquarters, for a place nearer their base. Fairfax County contributed 1.5 million dollars for road and other improvenments and other areas. Virginia awared 4.5 dollars in cash incentives for the company. But the state will only grant the money once employment benchmarks are met.

About 150 people would move to the Herndon-Reston area, including the corporate leadership. The move will add 400 jobs to this area, the largest since Booze Allan Hamilton brought 1400 jobs to Fairfax County in 2004.

Additional information from the Washington Post.