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Two longtime Seven Corners businesses could be replaced by a 450-unit residential complex under a rezoning application submitted to Fairfax County on Dec. 30.
Eakin Properties, the Falls Church-based developer that has owned the New Grand Mart and Pistone’s Italian Inn properties since the 1950s, wants to redevelop the 3.15-acre site at 6320 and 6326 Arlington Boulevard.
The proposal calls for two multifamily buildings rising approximately 85 feet. A covered walkway would connect the buildings, which would include 30,000 square feet of ground-floor retail and other nonresidential space.
Sara Mariska, a land-use attorney with Odin, Feldman & Pittman, said in the application that the project would help Seven Corners remain a community hub while adding housing, retail and public gathering space.
It remains unclear whether New Grand Mart or Pistone’s could return after redevelopment. Pistone’s declined to comment, while Eakin Properties and Mariska did not provide additional information about the retail plans. The proposal does designate space for a grocery store in the northwest corner of one building.
Decades of local history
New Grand Mart operates from a one-story brick building constructed in 1954. The grocery store opened there in August 2013 after parent company Green Paradise Enterprises acquired the family-run Grand Mart International Market business based in Annandale.
The chain, which specializes in foods from Asia, Africa and Latin America, now has nine locations. A 10th is set to replace a closed Amazon Fresh store in Manassas. Records do not clearly establish when the original Grand Mart arrived in Seven Corners, though the chain appears to have opened its first retail location in Centreville in October 2002.
Pistone’s has served pasta, pizza and other Italian dishes in Seven Corners since 1974, when it replaced a Howard Johnson’s. Its 5,877-square-foot building dates to 1950.
Plaza, parks and new paths proposed
The project’s primary entrance and commercial spaces would face Hillwood Avenue. Plans include a publicly accessible central plaza of approximately 0.46 acres that could accommodate farmers markets, concerts, pop-up shops, outdoor dining, a water feature and other community activities.
A linear park would run along Hillwood Avenue, while a pocket park with a multipurpose lawn would sit near the East Broad Street intersection. Together, the project would provide 1.1 acres of publicly accessible urban parkland.
Possible private amenities for residents include an outdoor swimming pool and interior courtyards.
The developer proposes 546 parking spaces in a mostly below-ground garage, 15% fewer than county requirements. The application says that amount would be sufficient for the planned uses.
Pedestrian and bicycle improvements would include an 8-foot-wide sidewalk along Hillwood Avenue and a 10-foot-wide trail beside Arlington Boulevard. A new drive aisle on the property’s western edge would become the main vehicle entrance and include a raised crosswalk to the neighboring Lookout at 6400 office buildings.
Review process still ahead
Eakin first raised the redevelopment possibility in 2022 through Fairfax County’s Site-Specific Plan Amendment process, which allows property owners and developers to seek changes to the county’s comprehensive land-use guidance.
The Board of Supervisors initially delayed the proposal while the county completed a multiyear transportation study. That study recommended a “Ring Road” to address the complicated intersection where Route 7, Arlington Boulevard, Wilson Boulevard and Sleepy Hollow Road converge.
After the transportation report was released in June 2023, supervisors later moved Eakin’s proposal into Tier 2 of the county’s plan-amendment work program, allowing staff members to consider revisions as their workload permits.
The planning study remains in an early phase, but the formal application seeks to change the property’s zoning from commercial to residential mixed-use. County staff have not yet accepted the application for review.