Tysons’ new 7-Eleven plans to host a grand opening party tomorrow (Friday) for customers.

Located on the first level of Tysons Corner Center, the convenience store will celebrate with festivities, including activities and free food from noon-4 p.m.

Attendees can expect a DJ, face painter and games, Todd Putt, a spokesperson for the mall, told Tysons Reporter. He added that the grand opening will also offer samples of sandwiches, brownies and fresh-baked cookies.

Construction for the location began in back in the spring.

The convenience store normally carries a range of items from personal care to food. A sign indicated that 7-Eleven applied for a license to sell alcohol.

Regular hours of operation for the new location have not been finalized yet, Putt said.

A woman-owned consulting firm recently announced that it packed up its boxes and moved its headquarters from Arlington to Tysons.

Founded in 2004, eGlobalTech provides management consulting and IT solutions. The company was previously located at 3865 Wilson Blvd, Suite 700.

“We outgrew our previous headquarters in Arlington and chose a location closer to our key customers. The layout of the new space was designed with our employees in mind to foster collaboration and innovation,” Joe Zimmerman, the company’s chief operating officer, said in a press release.

Now, the company is located at 1900 Gallows Road in the Old Courthouse neighborhood in Tysons.

The new headquarters includes a dedicated space for a technology lab, which “serves as an incubation engine to solve client-related technical challenges by building repeatable, leading-edge solutions and capabilities,” the press release said.

We’ve moved to a new headquarters in Tysons Corner! Our new HQ allows for more collaboration and innovation as we continue to grow as a company. Learn more about our new HQ here.https://t.co/TQ8xaDKtmO pic.twitter.com/LyFrFxYbq6

— EGlobalTech, a Tetra Tech Company (@EGlobalTech_EGT) September 17, 2019

Image via Google Maps

Tysons may soon get a new athletic field in connection to The Mile development.

The developers behind the previously approved The Mile project now want to create a youth-sized athletic facility in the Old Courthouse neighborhood of Tysons to fulfill one of the development’s proffers.

The developers want to create the field on a site along Boone Blvd that currently has an 8-story-tall office building and surface parking lot. The site was previously approved for an extended stay hotel that was never constructed.

The developers propose to convert the parking lot into a field measuring 180 feet by 330 feet. The field would be surrounded by a black chain link fence between 10-24 feet high to prevent balls from escaping and include portable toilets, bleachers and bike racks.

The parking lot would get reconfigured to serve both the athletic field and office building, which houses Cel-Sci Corporation and Liberty Tax Service. While the developers would own the field, Fairfax County Park Authority would operate and maintain the park.

“So we’re able to take advantage of that which I think is a creative way to find land in Tysons Corner that is much needed for athletic fields,” Elizabeth Baker, a senior land use planner for Walsh, Colucci, Lubeley & Walsh, told the Fairfax County Planning Commission last night (Wednesday).

Baker said that while the athletic field is “youth-sized” because it is smaller than a full-size athletic field, she expects adults will use it as well.

“I think it’s a field that is going to be well used,” Baker said. “Obviously it’s an older building. It was built 40 years ago so it a site that’s been around for awhile, but is a large parking lot with excess parking in it.”

At-Large Commissioner Mary Cortina asked if restroom buildings could replace the portable toilets at the site.

“The Park Authority model of providing those porta-potties I think is really a holdover — even though we continue to do it — from another era when we were more suburban and there were no services in some of those park areas,” Cortina said. “This is right in the heart of Tysons.”

Baker said that having portable toilets at the site is no different than Ken Lawrence Park or Quantum Field in Tysons, “so it is meeting the standards for the Park Authority and that’s what we’ve provided here.”

Still, Cortina made a plea to the Park Authority to do away with portable toilets in the future.

“As we’re doing urban design we can’t forget the toileting needs,” Cortina said. “To continue to have these porta-potties throughout this urban development, it just seems to be incongruous with the rest of the streetscaping et cetera.”

A representative from the Park Authority said that restroom buildings are considered for fields and parks connected to larger developments and that portable toilets are appropriate for standalone parks.

Baker reassured Cortina that the portable toilets are in a corner of the site so that they won’t be visible to people walking or driving along Boone Blvd.

The Planning Commission voted to approve the proposal, which now heads to the Board of Supervisors.

“This new synthetic turf field will be a welcome addition to the Park Authority’s inventory of playing fields in Tysons,” Phillip Niedzielski-Eichner, the commissioner for the Providence District, said.

First image via Google Maps, images 2-3 via Fairfax County 

Tysons Reporter will soon have a sister site in Alexandria.

In case you were wondering why former editor Vernon Miles has had fewer and fewer bylines on Tysons Reporter, he is now heading up the team behind ALXnow.

As Washingtonian reported, ALXnow — feel free to call it “Alexandria Now” — will offer “high-tempo online coverage” of “a mix of news about local government, transportation, restaurant openings, and the culture of the neighborhoods it serves.”

Our team is looking forward to providing a fresh look at Alexandria, with more immediate, online-only coverage that is intended for all who live, work or follow happenings in the city. Whether you rent an apartment in Old Town, own a house in the West End, work along Eisenhower Avenue or frequently visit Del Ray, we will be providing coverage that’s relevant and interesting to you.

Make sure to check out the new site when it launches Oct. 1 — the same week as Tysons Reporter’s one-year birthday — for Miles’ witty headlines and detailed civic coverage.

Follow ALXnow.com on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, and sign up for its daily email newsletter here or below.

Tysons is poised to have a revamped brand early next year with a more “sophisticated” approach than water tank decals and streetlight banners.

The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors is considering investing up to $1 million in the Tysons Partnership, which plans to rebrand the area while establishing a “sustainable business and funding model” for the nonprofit association.

The funding could get allocated toward placemaking events, branding efforts, sponsorship and media outreach Joe LaHait, the debt manager for the Department of Management and Budget, said during a Budget Committee meeting Tuesday (Sept. 17).

Any funds granted by the Board of Supervisors would also be matched, LaHait said.

Tysons Partnership is aiming for the rebranding study to be completed by the end of the year or early 2020 and has already brought on a global design firm at a cost up to $250,000 to help develop the place-branding strategy for Tysons, LaHait said.

Several of the board members said that the funding could benefit the county by revitalizing Tysons.

Providence District Supervisor Linda Smyth said she’s hopeful that Tysons Partnership will learn from past mistakes for the new rebranding effort.

“I remember the first rebranding exercise in Tysons where we had the banners on the streetlight that faded and fell apart and we had all of those negotiations with Dominion that were very painful,” she said at the meeting.

Smyth said she wants some of the money to go toward looking at the partnership’s business and financial model, along with regular reports on the rebranding progress and how the money is getting spent.

“I would like to see some latitude in this so that it could be used for that exploration of different financial and business models along the way because that’s actually part of this,” Smyth said. “You can’t just brand. You have to have a body that’s going to maintain it.”

Sol Glasner, the president of Tysons Partnership, agreed with Smyth’s assessment that the partnership needs a new business model, calling the current members dues-based model “not sustainable.”

“It’s gotten us to this point but it will not carry us for the years to come,” Glasner said. “So we are exploring a variety of options and our plan is to transition to a different business and financial model by the middle of 2021.”

Glasner said that Tysons Partnership is working with Gensler.

“This is a one-to-one match from our own membership and the idea is to jumpstart the implementation of a far more sophisticated branding campaign than banners and shrink wrap,” he said. “That was something done in the early stages of the partnership.”

Jeff McKay, the representative for the Lee District, said that the rebranding effort in Tysons can serve as a role model for other areas in the county.

“Not only is this good for Tysons, which is good for the county, but it’s also good for us as other groups pursue similar structures to learn from what you have evaluated, what you’re already doing because there are other parts of the county that are ripe for a partnership-type entity,” McKay said.

The county staff recommends that the Board of Supervisors OK the funds.

“We view this as an opportunity to get them off the ground and provide them with the seed money,” LaHait said.

“It’s a million, which looks like a lot on this chart, but in the context of what our return on our investment is, it’s a very small investment in the future of Tysons,” McKay said.

LEON, a U.K.-based eatery, plans to open in the Mosaic District this winter.

This will be LEON’s first Virginia location at 2905 District Avenue, Suite 160, according to a press release. The expansion into the Mosaic District is part of the company’s plan to open 15 new restaurants by the end of 2020.

“LEON chose EDENS Mosaic District for its vibrant, sophisticated environment that connects families and friends together through a curated mix of unique retail, restaurant and entertainment experiences,” Glenn Edwards, the U.S. president of the brand, said in a press release. “It allows LEON to bring our mission to a family-focused clientele.”

Founded in 2004, LEON brands itself as “naturally fast food” with menu options for a variety of dietary needs, including vegetarians, vegans and pescatarians.

The online menu features breakfast items like an English Breakfast Box and a salmon and egg muffin and all-day dishes including gluten-free chicken nuggets and a vegan sweet potato falafel hot box.

The restaurant chain currently has three locations in D.C. and more than 60 locations in the U.K., Norway, the Netherlands, Spain and Ireland.

Photo courtesy LEON 

Absentee voting in Fairfax County begins tomorrow (Sept. 20) for the Nov. 5 elections.

Eligible community members can register to vote for the upcoming elections online or at the Office of Elections (12000 Government Center Parkway) in conference rooms two and three. Voters may also receive their ballots through the mail.

Absentee voters in the Tysons area may also submit their registration or ballots to the McLean Governmental Center (1437 Balls Hill Road) on Oct. 19, Oct. 26 and Nov. 2 from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m.

Some reasons voters may want to submit absentee ballots include temporary residence outside of the U.S., confinement awaiting trial or those who have a religious obligation. Other reasons can be found on the Virginia Department of Elections’ website.

All absentee voters will need a valid driver’s license or state-issued identification card and their social security number to register.

This year, voters can choose candidates can choose between candidates for a variety of positions including the next chairman for the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors.

For those unfamiliar with the process of absentee voting, Fairfax County published a variety of resources to explain the procedure and help answer questions.

Ballots will be translated into English, Spanish, Korean and Vietnamese.

The last day to apply for an absentee ballot is seven days before the election, or Oct. 29 by 5 p.m., according to Fairfax County. All absentee ballots must be received by 7 p.m. on Nov. 5 in order to be counted.

The Town of Vienna is seeking funding from Fairfax County to help fund a plan to address vacancies plaguing Maple Avenue.

The town approached the county earlier this year to split the costs of an economic development strategy and market study totaling $100,000, Scott Sizer from the Department of Economic Initiatives said. The town set aside its $50,000 half when it approved its fiscal year 2020 budget.

“Primarily they are concerned with some of the vacancy rates that they are seeing, particularly in the retail properties along Maple Avenue,” Sizer told the Board of Supervisors during a Budget Committee meeting yesterday (Tuesday).

The town has a 15% vacancy rate with 138 vacant spaces — 68 of which are on Maple Avenue, Sizer said.

The new strategy and study — which could take up to 9-12 months to complete — are meant to revitalize Maple Avenue and find more efficient use of resources to address the vacancies, along with discovering how to aid business recruitment and place-making strategies, Sizer said.

“Frankly retail vacancies are a problem all over the county,” Providence District Supervisor Linda Smyth said at the meeting. “We tend to have come up with a formula of mixed-use that has something above but always ground floor retail and not always is it sustainable.”

Smyth said that the vacancies are not just an issue for Vienna, urging her fellow board members to look “at this on a bigger scale… we need to get a better grip on what’s working.”

The town has already started some efforts to revitalize local businesses. The Town of Vienna created a new economic development manager position earlier this year and is currently recruiting the position, Sizer said.

County staff reviewed the proposal in June and recommend that the county provide the funding.

Dranesville District Supervisor John Foust agreed with the staff’s recommendation, calling the funding “a smart investment for the county.”

Fairfax County police are searching for the man suspected of flashing a woman in Tysons yesterday afternoon.

“A man exposed himself to a woman while sitting in his car in a parking lot,” police said. The incident occurred around noon Tuesday (Sept. 17) in the 8300 block of Leesburg Pike.

“He was described as a black man in his 30s. He was driving a gray Infiniti sedan,” police said.

Image via Google Maps

Fairfax County officials want to take a closer look at the costs linked to adding body worn cameras to the county’s police department.

After studies observing the impact of police officers wearing body cameras while on duty, several members on the Board of Supervisors came out in support of the new proposal. As body worn cameras get closer to receiving the board’s approval, two supervisors want more information to determine the fiscal impact of the project.

Springfield District Supervisor Pat Herrity kicked off the discussion of the body worn cameras at the Public Safety Committee meeting Tuesday (Sept. 17) by asking what the fiscal impact would be.

The program would cost about $6.2 million by fiscal year 2022, Deputy County Executive for Public Safety Dave Rohrer told the board.

“That includes the Commonwealth Department of Information Technology, the police officers, the cameras, the storage and equipment,” Rohrer said. “It’s an all-in number.”

Braddock District Supervisor John Cook said that if Board of Supervisors approves the action items on the body worn cameras at the meeting next Tuesday (Sept. 24), he will request a report on how it could affect the budget for the Public Defenders’ Office.

Cook noted that the presentation about the pilot program included information about costs for the Office of the Commonwealth’s Attorney.