No Construction Start Date Yet for New Walgreens

Despite closing on April 29, the building is still very much a presence in Annandale. It's a of the chain restaurant. That’s because construction on the new Walgreens planned for the property has yet to begin.

Ben Boxer, a public information officer with the Fairfax County Office of Public Affairs, confirmed to Patch that the county has received and disapproved the first site plan submission from the company.

“That’s standard procedure for most first submissions, and we usually return them with comments,” said Boxer, who added that the office is now waiting on a second submission from Walgreens.

Once a plan is approved, the plan is valid for up to five years. The county does not give timelines for when developers can begin construction.

Attempts to reach representatives for Walgreens by Annandale Patch regarding a start date for construction were not returned. However, back in March, representatives for Walgreens told the Annandale Central Business District Planning Committee that they expected to break ground shortly after the site plan approval process.

Boxer said the company is currently waiting on a trail waiver from the Fairfax County Department of Transportation before submitting their second plan submission. Currently, there are no permits listed for the property in the Fairfax Inspections Database (also known as FIDO).

The single-story building, originally constructed in 1967, once housed a Three Chef’s restaurant prior to Fuddruckers moving in.

Board of Supervisors Approves Parking Reduction for Walgreens

At its June 5 meeting, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved a parking reduction of 20 percent for Walgreens. County Executive staff recommended the Board approve the reduction because it “would support the Comprehensive Plan objective of creating a more attractive and functionally efficient area that emphasizes pedestrian amenities in the Annandale Community Business Center.”

[Read the full Annandale Comprehensive Plan here.]

The reduction was needed “to accommodate increased streetscape, landscaping, and to address site circulation,” according to the Board agenda item, which also states Walgreens is required “to provide one space per 200 square feet of net floor area for the first 1,000 square feet, plus six spaces per each additional 1,000 square feet, plus five stacking spaces in front of each drive-through window. This equates to 63 parking spaces while operating as a drive-through pharmacy."

[See full designs of the Walgreens on pages at right or download the full Board Agenda packet here and view pages 25-31.]

The Board agenda item lists the size of the Walgreens property as 10,593 square feet.

Read more about Fuddruckers on Annandale Patch:

Editor's note: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that the site plan for Walgreens had been approved. The story has since been updated to correctly state that the site plan was not approved by the county.