Arlington Approves Construction of New Village Center

Changing Columbia Pike from a concrete corridor of surface parking lots into a lively main street, as is Arlington’s goal, comes one project at a time.

At the corner of Columbia Pike and George Mason Drive, a big, new development is planned with new apartments and retail for Arlington, Virginia.

The Arlington County Board recently approved a project, dubbed "Columbia Pike Village Center," that features a six-story apartment building.

Reston-based Orr Partners will replace the Food Star supermarket and its associated parking lot with 365 market-rate apartments atop 82,000 square feet of ground-floor retail. KGD Architecture designed the building.

Plans include a 50,000-square-foot grocery store, a three-level, 604-space parking garage and a 22,150 square foot public square, designed by landscape architect Oculus, featuring a garden, public art and a water feature.

Orr Partners has also retained Kendra Haste, a “contemporary animal sculptor” based in Surrey, England, to design public art for the square.

The grocery store is likely to be a Harris Teeter, open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The developer will also widen the sidewalks to six feet, to provide space for outdoor dining, and set aside 152 secure bicycle parking spaces.

“We’re really excited about it,” said Ryan Orr, Orr’s vice president of acquisitions and development. “I think for Columbia Pike, it’s a game changer.”

In order to make room for the three-acre project, the developments currently on the lot will be razed. The developments include a Food Star supermarket and a pool hall, called Hi Cue Billiards.

“This is an exciting project that will bring more vitality to an important intersection on Columbia Pike and we look forward to its completion,” said Arlington County Board Chair Libby.

Construction is slated to begin later this year.

Arlington offers incentives for developing along Columbia Pike, including streamlined review and higher density. Proposed projects there are reviewed using the Form Based Code zoning tool, which focuses on physical form and the relationship between building facades and public spaces, as opposed to traditional zoning and its focus on dwellings per acre and floor-area ratio.

Since 2003, when Arlington adopted Form Based Code as a rule, the county has approved 14 projects along Columbia Pike totaling more than 2,000 residential units (612 affordable), more than 220,000 square feet of retail, a public plaza, a community center, and a new Giant supermarket.

Arlington County's decision to nix its streetcar plans has not spelled doom for Columbia Pike's growth.

In the wake of the November 2014 cancellation of the controversial streetcar system, developers have sought approval for roughly a half dozen new projects along the 3.5-mile corridor totaling nearly 1,000 residential units and more than 100,000 square feet of retail.

Columbia Pike remains a corridor dominated by pavement, and the Arlington board has yet to reveal how it will move people with streetcar no longer in the plans. But the development community remains amenable, at least, to Arlington's goal of creating a lively "Main Street" atmosphere on Columbia Pike.