(Updated 2:35 p.m.) Falls Church Police have made two arrests after they say a massage parlor customer was sexually assaulted.

“Police responded to Rainbow Massage (800 W Broad St., Unit 101) after a victim reported inappropriate touching during a massage,” according to a police press release.

On Friday (April 19) police arrested 60-year-old Dongfang Chen and 55-year-old Zao Wen Xie. Chen was charged with Sexual Battery and Massage Permit Violations. Xie was charged with allowing an Unlicensed Massage.

Detectives believe there may be more victims, the press release says. Anyone with information can contact the City of Falls Church Police at 703-248-5053.

More from the press release:

Per City Code Sec. 8-74, a massage establishment must have a permit to operate in the City of Falls Church. All massage therapists must be certified by both the Virginia Board of Nursing and have a massage therapist permit from the City of Falls Church. Customers have the right to view all appropriate permits and licenses upon request.

Image via Google Maps

Around 25 years ago, Sherri Routt started working at the Fair Oaks Barnes and Noble. Now, she’s helping the book store chain launch a new prototype store in the Mosaic District (2921 District Avenue).

Tomorrow (April 24), Routt’s 8,300-square-foot Barnes and Noble will open its doors to the public. The store is considerably smaller than the usual stores.

Frank Morabito, Vice President of stores for Barnes and Noble, attended a special preview event at the store and said the new slimmer size is part of a shift towards a more cafe feel for the chain rather than sprawling brick and mortar stores.

The store would feel familiar to anyone who has visited the chain’s larger locations. Though the store is smaller, a quick check on obscure fantasy and historical titles showed that the store is still considerably well stocked.

But there are other differences immediately apparent when stepping into the store. Lower bookshelves in the building offer clear views from one end of the store to the other in contrast to the more labyrinthian, library-feel of many book stores.

Routt said that staff will be roaming the store assisting visitors with product selection and allowing them to purchase books without needing to visit a cash wrap. The store will also feature a self-serve kiosk so customers can research books on their own.

But as a person who has worked in local Barnes and Nobles for years, Routt said she wanted to include a focus on local authors. Routt said she knew several from her days working in Fair Oaks, and used those connections to help put together a lineup of book signings for the grand opening.

The book store also has a children’s section with a selection for younger ages along with toys and a special activity table for children to play with LEGOs.

“This is the cleanest this playspace is ever going to be,” one parent noted as the tour group passed the LEGO table.

Routt said there are many children’s book authors in the area, so moving forward she’s hoping to organize more reading events with writers and children.

“We’re really trying to make our store feel very localized,” Routt said.

The store also features a Barnes and Noble Cafe. While many locations include Starbucks, Morabito said the Barnes and Noble Cafes are company owned and feature Starbucks coffee, but may have a slightly different selection of baked goods.

Morabito said the Mosaic District was the perfect location to open a prototype smaller store, the second in the D.C. region.

“This is the ideal model [for the Mosaic District],” Morabito said. “It’s an amazing shopping experience here and they needed a book store.”

Routt said the store opening had been an easy and streamlined process, though she’s aware there are a lot of eyes in the corporate hierarchy trained on this store opening.

“I’m super excited for the opening,” Routt said. “We’re being watched because this is a new model. So there’s a pressure there, but it’s the good kind — not a stress pressure.”

The lineup of authors signing for the grand opening include:

• April 24: Kristyn Kusek Lewis — 5 p.m.
• April 24: Ikechuku Chigewe — 5 p.m.
• April 25: Ellen Crosby — 5 p.m.
• April 26: Olivia Hinebaugh — 5 p.m.
• April 27: Kwame Alexander – 12 p.m.
• April 27: Eleanor Jones, Barb Goffman and Libby Kelin — 4 p.m.
• April 28: Barbara Carroll Roberts — 10 a.m.
• April 28: Tiffany Foo — 1 p.m.

The store will also host face painting and balloon twisting on Saturday (April 27) and Sunday (April 28).

A dream trip came true for a young girl from Falls Church because of the Make-A-Wish Foundation’s Mid-Atlantic chapter.

Three-year-old Kathryn had a bone marrow transplant last year and wished to go to the Walt Disney World Resort. Earlier this year, she headed to Orlando to meet in person some of her favorite characters from the Disney Junior network.

“Her favorite show is Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and she likes to repeat lines, sing along and dance while she watches the characters on TV,” Make-A-Wish Mid-Atlantic wrote to Tysons Reporter. “She was thrilled to meet Mickey Mouse three separate times on her trip, and she had a blast going on rides at the parks.”

Kathryn and her family stayed at the Give Kids The World Village, a resort for kids with critical illnesses and their families. While there, Kathryn celebrated her favorite holiday during the resort’s weekly Halloween night on Mondays in the middle of January. She also visited the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and practiced doing “magic” with her new wand at Universal Orlando.

“The wish transformed Kathryn’s life by giving her the opportunity to leave behind the stress of dealing with a critical illness and just enjoy being a kid,” according to Make-A-Wish Mid-Atlantic.

Photo courtesy Make-A-Wish Mid-Atlantic

Convenience store 7-Eleven plans to open in Tysons Corner Center this fall — a move that is part of the Japanese-owned chain’s plans to break out of its familiar facade.

Gary Bowman, a senior real estate representative for 7-Eleven, told Tysons Reporter the company is looking to venture into “nontraditional sites.”

“We’re such a large brand,” Bowman said, adding that 7-Eleven wants to provide its services in more than just the standalone buildings customers are used to seeing. The new concept for the stores includes eyeing malls with high traffic counts, he said.

Calling Tysons Corner Center “a fantastic mall,” Bowman said that its set-up and diversity of offerings appealed to 7-Eleven.

The convenience store will occupy roughly a 1,600 square-foot-space on the first level of the mall and expects a fall opening, he said. “The permitting process is moving along, but not like we’re used to seeing it.”

Right now, the spot is getting ready for construction, he said. Once finished, the new 7-Eleven store plans to have tables set up outside for people who want to stop to enjoy a sandwich or drink before heading back into the mall.

The 7-Eleven website lists 724 locations in Virginia, with four in McLean and six in Vienna. If you don’t want to wait until the fall to sip Slurpees, the closest one to the mall is at 1931 Old Gallows Road.

Editor’s note: Over the next several weeks, Tysons Reporter is profiling the eight districts of Tysons. This is the seventh article in that series.

If Tysons Central 123 is Tysons’ Fifth Avenue, Tysons Central 7 is its Wall Street.

Anchored on the original “Tyson’s Corner” and the Greensboro Metrorail station, Tysons Central 7 is one of Tysons’ four downtown districts. It is the most similar to a conventional “Central Business District” elsewhere in the United States.

Northeast of Leesburg Pike, the district “will continue to have one of the highest concentrations of office space in Tysons.” Southwest of Leesburg Pike, planners intend a “Civic Commons” to be the heart of the Tysons community — but change might be slower here than in other downtown districts.

An Urban Downtown

Tysons Central 7, named for the highway number of Leesburg Pike, is home to towers like 8100 and 8200 Greensboro Drive — modernist offices surrounded by lots of surface parking. It is also home to The Boro, a development opening later this year that consists of mixed-use high-rises surrounded by urban plazas and a new street grid. If the former represents Tysons’ past, and the latter represents Tysons’ present, both will leave their marks on Tysons’ future.

Predictions are that Tysons will grow to 200,000 jobs and 100,000 residents by 2050. Whether you think those predictions are conservative or generous, it is inevitable that the imbalance between jobs and residents will continue to be a major factor shaping Tysons’ development. Many of the new residences will be located in the districts like Old Courthouse that lie a little farther from the Metro, leaving the office pressure on the downtown.

Even as it diversifies with some retail, residences, and hotels to “become a vibrant 24-hour area,” Tysons Central 7 will continue to be defined by offices of all kinds, old and new.

Tysons Central 7 lies on what is naturally the most elevated land in Fairfax County, making it perfect for ambitious builders hoping to leave their mark on Tysons’ emerging skyline.

Read More

(Update 11 a.m.) As Tysons works its way towards being a fully fledged city, The Iconic tower is being designed to be one of the area’s first real landmark buildings.

At 600 feet tall, the planned Iconic tower in Tysons West is the most visible of the Clemente Development Company’s plans for Tysons West, an area surrounding the Spring Hill Metro station. The tower had originally been planned for mixed residential-commercial, but in August was transformed into an almost-entirely office development.

The tower is just one part of the developer’s sprawling 3 million-square-foot redevelopment plans.

The first building planned for development is a hotel and a condominium building on the north end of the site, to be followed by an office building just south near the Metro kiss-and-ride. Juliann Clemente, President of Clemente Development, said while the development could do nothing to affect the Metro exit, the Fairfax County-owned kiss-and-ride and property just east of the station exit is being transformed into an open plaza with the kiss-and-ride being relocated.

A street is planned to bisect the property, with a residential, retail and arts district located just to the west of the offices. Unlike the nearby Boro project, Clemente noted that the project is entirely tightly clustered around the Metro station and on a flat elevation. While The Boro project is designed to be a day-to-day retail experience to compete with the Tysons Corner Center mall, Clemente said the View project is designed to be a one-stop-shop for everything someone would need in a retail, residential or office experience.

The project also includes plans for a 199-seat black box theater at the project, replacing a 500-seat theater that had been in earlier plans. Clemente said the theater was the result of a negotiation with Fairfax County.

“Capital One has a 2000-seat performing arts center,” Clemente said. “We wanted something more intimate and flexible. This is the heartbeat of the project.”

As part of the proffers for the development — incentives offered by a developer to allow for exceptions to zoning ordinances — the Clemente Development Company is currently looking funding construction of a new community center behind the nearby fire station at 1560 Spring Hill Road, with four to five levels of the building set aside for affordable housing. The developer is also planning to contribute $750,000 to construct an athletic field at Raglan Road Park.

The project is still in the early stages of land use approval. Kevin MacWhorter, a lawyer working on the project said the item is docketed to go to the Fairfax County Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors in October. If the project receives approval, Clemente said construction could break ground on the first building as early as next spring.

“We’ve been watching Tysons grow since 1983,” Clemente said at the developer’s headquarters at 8500 Leesburg Pike. “When Metro came through, we knew the time was right to do this development.”

The Weekly Planner is a roundup of the most interesting events coming up over the next week in the Tysons area.

We’ve scoured the web for events of note in Tysons, Vienna, Merrifield, McLean and Falls Church. Know of any we’ve missed? Tell us!

Monday (April 22)

• Game of Thrones Trivia Night — 8-10:30 p.m. at Blackfinn Ameripub (2750 Gallows Road) — The Blackfinn Ameripub is hosting a trivia night themed around the popular HBO show Game of Thrones. There is no entry fee, but top teams can win special Game of Thrones-related prizes. Food and drinks themed around the show will also be available.

Wednesday (April 24)

• 2019 Green Expo — 7-9 p.m. at the Vienna Community Center (120 Cherry Street SE.) — The event hosted by the town’s Community Enhancement Commission helps locals learn about sustainability, home energy efficiency, recycling and more. Activities at the Expo include a raffle to win a rain barrel and lessons on how to make a yard a habitat for local wildlife. Green Expo is free and open to the public.

Thursday (April 25)

• Rosé All Day Event — 5-7 p.m. at Tysons Corner Center — As part of series of events coming to BrandBox, Winky Lux’s Roseé themed event will feature all-day pampering with hair touch-ups and creative consultation. Entrance is $20, which also comes with a $20 WinkyLux gift card, a makeover and rosé tasting. RSVPs can be made by emailing [email protected].
• Claude Moore Farm Public Meeting — 6-8 p.m. at Madison Community Center (3829 N Stafford Street, Arlington) — The National Park Service is launching its planning effort for McLean’s Claude Moore Farm, which closed last fall, with an open house. Concepts for the park are planned to be shared at the meeting with the public given a chance to offer feedback.

Saturday (April 27)

• 8th Annual Taste of Vienna — 11 a.m.-8 p.m. at the Vienna Volunteer Fire Department (400 Center Street) — The annual fundraiser for the Vienna Volunteer Fire Department is coming back, rain or shine. The event showcases food and beer from around Vienna. For adults, beer tickets are $15. All-day moon bounce admission for children is $2.50.
• Caboose Brewing Company’s Springfest 2019 — 12-7 p.m. at Caboose Commons (2918 Eskridge Road) — Caboose Commons is hosting its first craft brewery festival, with eight other breweries planned to attend the event in Merrifield. Live music, smoked barbecue, and authentic German beer are planned for the celebration. Tickets are $25.
• Pints for Parkinson’s — 1-5 p.m. at Tysons Biergarten (8346 Leesburg Pike) — At a special fundraiser, all donations and a percentage of sales at Tysons Biergarten will be given to local non-profit Parkinson Social Network — a group dedicated to bringing the Parkinson’s community together to inform and encourage those living with Parkinson’s.

Sunday (April 28)

• 2019 Walk on the Hill — 2-5 p.m. at the Windover Avenue — The annual tradition dating back to 1971 takes visitors on a self-guided tour through a historic Vienna neighborhood. Approximately 50 yards and gardens are planned to participate in the tours, and live entertainment is also planned for the celebration.

Photo via Facebook

(Updated at 3:25 p.m.) More bubble tea is headed to Tysons Corner Center.

Moge Tee has a “coming soon” sign outside of a vacant store between the Pandora and Steinway stores on the first level near Nordstrom. Renaud Consulting announced in March that Moge Tee signed a lease for a 1,000 square foot space in the mall.

Currently based in New York City, Moge Tee’s menu serves up parfaits, coffee, cheese tea, milk tea, fruit tea and Uji matcha — a type of green tea. The teas and fresh cheese used are imported from Australia, according to Moge Tee’s website.

The bubble tea spot will soon join a few other recent newcomers at the mall.

In March, shorts chain Chubbies opened as a tenant of BrandBox, a collection of pop-up stores in the mall.

Bubbles Salon, which specializes in hair color, shaping, and styling services, held a grand opening on April 4 for its new location on the first level by Nordstrom. The salon is near the temporarily closed Aveda salon, which is currently undergoing a renovation, according to signs.

On the second level near the Barnes and Noble, All Star Sports opened on April 1 in the former spot of A Christmas to Remember, a holiday decorations store, according to a spokesman for the mall operator Macerich.

Until Moge Tee opens, shoppers at Tysons Corner Center can currently get their bubble tea fix at Kung Fu Tea.

First photo via Facebook 

MOD Pizza — a pizza restaurant chain — is coming to the Pike 7 Plaza shopping center in Tysons.

The new restaurant is under construction at 8405 Leesburg Pike, between the Cava and the Honeygrow that both opened last fall.

The new MOD Pizza location isn’t the first in the area — there’s another at 168 Maple Avenue W. in Vienna that opened in 2016 — but the chain has been undergoing a widespread growth in the D.C. region.

It is unknown when the location plans to open, but the company is currently looking for a general manager for the Tysons location with a base salary of $68,100.

Construction is also ongoing at an enclosed JP Morgan Chase kiosk between MOD Pizza and Honeygrow.

Tysons Reporter has a new local editor, but its former editor is not going far.

Catherine Douglas Moran is taking the reins as the local editor for Tysons Reporter, covering Tysons, McLean, Vienna and Falls Church. A Master’s candidate at George Washington University, which is also her alma mater, Moran most recently served as the interim editor for our sister site Reston Now, while its local editor was on leave.

“I am excited to cover the changes in Tysons and how they will impact the people who live and work in this developing city — from housing to transportation, from the food scene to nightlife,” said Moran. “I am especially looking forward to talking with members of the Tysons, McLean, Vienna and Falls Church communities to hear more about their experiences, visions and concerns.”

Outgoing Tysons Reporter editor Vernon Miles helped to build the site from scratch following its launch last fall to, most recently, nearly 150,000 pageviews and more than 65,000 readers per month. Miles, who’s noted for his detailed civic coverage and penchant for witty headlines, is not going far: he will now serve as senior reporter for Tysons Reporter and our other sister site, ARLnow in Arlington.

“Wait, Scott, am I being demoted?” Miles said in a brief statement. “But no, Scott, I’m covering Tysons. Is this on the record? Please tell everyone that I…”

Please join us in welcoming Catherine!