F45, an Australian-based high-intensity gym franchise, just signed a 10-year lease for The Boro development in Tysons.
The gym is set to open in the 2,310-square-foot second-level retail space at 1640 Boro Place, Suite 206, according to a press release.
F45 is targeting a late summer opening in The Boro — right around when many of the restaurants and retail plan to open in The Meridian Group’s development.
According to the press release:
F45 Tysons will offer fitness programs with more than 4,000 exercises changed daily; multi-screen LCD TVs displaying all exercises; heart rate technology for performance tracking; live DJ mixes and F45 FM music to keep members motivated; and a global support network of coaching professionals. The state-of-the-art fitness facility will include full locker rooms and showers.
The workout program combines interval, cardiovascular and strength training regimens into a rotating set of workouts.
“We are proud to welcome F45 Tysons to The Boro, and we are thrilled about the tremendous energy it will bring to the project,” Caroline Flax, the senior analyst for The Meridian Group, said in the press release.
Photo courtesy F45
Bear Branch Tavern is eyeing a space that once belonged to a bank along Maple Avenue in the heart of downtown Vienna.
The restaurant wants to move into a roughly 6,700-square-foot ground floor space in an office building known as the Vienna Professional Center (133 Maple Avenue E.). The building was built in 1983 and has eight units, including the basement, according to a Town of Vienna staff report.
Bear Branch Tavern plans to occupy units 100 and 100A, which have been vacant since Cardinal Bank left about two years ago.
The restaurant would have 249 seats for indoor and outdoor areas in both the front and rear areas of the building, transforming the former bank teller drive-thru canopy into a rear patio, according to the staff report.
“Staff believes that a restaurant of this size with outdoor seating will help encourage a more vibrant Central Business District,” the staff report says.
In addition to offering food and drinks, the tavern also hopes to entertain patrons with live music. The plans show a location for acoustic performers on the back deck near the proposed fire pit.
The Planning Commission is scheduled to provide a recommendation on conditional use permits for outdoor dining and live entertainment at tonight’s meeting.
The meeting will also continue the public hearing on the Sunrise Senior Living Facility proposal — residents’ concerns about parking, safety and retail space dominated the last public hearing on April 24.
The meeting starts at 8 p.m. in the Town Hall Council Chambers (127 Center Street S.).
First image via Google Maps, second via Vienna Planning Commission
McEnearney Associates, a family-owned real estate firm, recently arrived in Vienna.
Vienna Mayor Laurie DiRocco celebrated with a ribbon-cutting ceremony last week. While new to the brick-and-mortar spot, McEnearney Associates is no stranger to Vienna — the real estate firm has conducted business in the town for 35 years, according to a press release.
“We felt that we wanted a stronger presence in the Town of Vienna to increase our client support and community outreach,” Jon Wolford, the managing broker of McLean/Vienna McEnearney Associates, said. “Many of our Associates are involved in the Vienna community whether through events, schools or nonprofit organizations.”
Located at 374 Maple Avenue E., the spot is right by the Peet’s Coffee and newly opened Starbucks. It is the 11th location for McEnearney Associates in the D.C.-area, according to the press release.
“There is something incredibly unique and special about the Town of Vienna, and we felt it was a perfect fit for our firm,” Wolford said.
Earlier this week the Town Business Liaison Committee welcomed McEnearney Associates to Town. They are a local and family-owned real estate firm with over 350 associates. Cheers! #local #business pic.twitter.com/7KCqy0Vhoa
— Town of Vienna, VA (@TownofViennaVA) May 3, 2019
A sleep company will soon spring into a new spot in Tysons Corner Center.
Signs up say that Casper will fill the former spot of handbag and luggage store Vera Bradley, which closed on April 26 on the mall’s second level by Macy’s.
Casper sells mattresses, pillows, bed frames, bedding and sleep accessories, including a foam dog bed.
Nearby stores that sell Casper products include Target’s locations in the Mosaic District (2905 S. District Avenue) and Falls Church (500 S. Washington Street).
Casper will join another mattress store in the mall. Shoppers can find Sleep Number on the first level by Nordstrom.
Vienna is no longer a Starbucks-less town.
The drive-thru Starbucks at 367 Maple Avenue E. opened around 7 p.m. on Friday (May 3), but officially opened for the full day on Saturday (May 4), an employee at the store said.
The two other Starbucks on Maple Avenue closed on last Sunday (April 28), leaving Vienna without a Starbucks for four days.
On weekdays and Saturdays, the store opens at 5 a.m. and closes at 9 p.m. On Sundays, the store closes at 8:30 p.m.
The widely anticipated — and occasionally reviled — drive-thru Starbucks at 367 Maple Avenue E. is set to open tomorrow.
“The plan is to open tomorrow morning at 5 a.m.,” an employee at the store said, “but that depends on how much of the work gets done. It could be later in the day, but we’re definitely opening tomorrow.”
The employee said the staff at the Starbucks is eager to open.
“It’s going to bring more convenience to Vienna,” the employee said. “We’re really excited to open, especially for the patio.”
Locals seemed keenly interested in the opening as well, with one local stopping her car in the middle of Maple Avenue to ask when the Starbucks would be open and find out where the nearest open one is (8381 Leesburg Pike in Tysons).
The two other Starbucks on Maple Avenue closed on Sunday, leaving the town without a Starbucks for four days. The original plan was to open today (Thursday).
At nearby Caffe Amouri (107 Church St NE), staff said the closures have led to a noticeable surge in customers looking for another coffee outlet.
One cashier at the overcrowded coffee shop looked at the line trailing out of the door. “I kind of can’t wait for [Starbucks] to open again,” the employee said.
Just a month shy of its 10-year-anniversary, a kids’ clothing boutique named Wee Chic recently opened its first Virginia store in the Mosaic District.
Rewinding to when it all began, owner Bridget Quinn Stickline told Tysons Reporter that she started Wee Chic after struggling to find clothing she liked for her daughter, who was then a baby. “A retailer alert went off [in my head] — this is a void in the market. There’s opportunity here,” she said.
Stickline, who has worked in the garment industry and is a self-described “fabric-phile,” knew she wanted ethical fashion with a modern approach that she could buy in boutiques.
Fast forward to present day and Wee Chic sells appropriate kids’ clothing that parents can have a hard time finding, she said.
“Fashion forward and mom approved” is how Stickline describes the shop’s offerings, which include clothing for girls’ sizes from newborn up to size 16 and for boys from newborn up to size 8, along with toys and books. (Food-printed clothing, like sushi and tacos, are popular right now, she said.)
Originally based in the Baltimore-area, Wee Chic has a newly opened Mosaic District shop, which was formerly the location of Dawn Price Baby — another local kids’ boutique that started shuttering its stores last year after 15 years in business.
Stickline said that she heard about Price’s plan to retires and signed the lease for the space in March just a few months after Price’s lease ended.
“We saw that as a sign for us to make a move into Northern Virginia,” Stickline said, adding that she likes the variety of restaurants and mix of national chains and small businesses that call the Mosaic District home.
She says she hasn’t had any customers confuse the two shops, since the decor and merchandising “feel very different” from Dawn Price Baby.
Wee Chic embraces the individuality, fun and the flexibility that comes from being a small business, Stickline said.
She has embraced recent push in the industry toward selling gender-bending — not be confused with gender neutral — clothes and toys. “We’re seeing dinosaurs on girls’ clothing. Why didn’t this happen 10 years ago?” Stickline said, adding that she’s excited about how retailers are starting to think differently about gender.
Wee Chic is also unique in its refusal to sell products online — a move that might be surprising in an e-commerce age, but one that Stickline says creates in-person experiences that shoppers can’t replicate online. “For us, it’s about the human connection,” Stickline said. “We get to know clients really well.”
Even in “Age of Amazon” as Stickline calls it, the boutique sees returning customers — “the Wee Chic Squad” — that allows Stickline to watch kids grow up.
“Kids come into our store and it’s their favorite store,” she said, adding that parents will bring their kids shopping there as a reward. “That’s a really cool feeling to create a space that kids love.”
Now age 12, Stickline’s daughter has outgrown Wee Chic, but has picked up her mom’s entrepreneurial spirit, Stickline said. “She was the original Wee Chic.”
Photo courtesy via Wee Chic
Moge Tee expects to open in about two months in Tysons Corner Center as part of the bubble tea shop’s massive expansion plans for this year.
The upcoming Tysons location is one of several new shops in Virginia, Lin Luo, who handles franchise development, told Tysons Reporter. Moge Tee held a grand opening for its new store at 6122 Arlington Blvd in Falls Church last Sunday (April 21). The bubble tea shop also recently opened in D.C.’s Glover Park neighborhood.
This year alone, Moge Tee aims to open 40-50 stores across the U.S., including Atlanta, Miami and Los Angeles, according to a Moge Tee presentation sent to Tysons Reporter. So far, more than 20 stores have been leased or are under construction, the presentation said.
Moge Tee will occupy a 1,000 square-foot-space between the Pandora and Steinway stores on the first level near Nordstrom. The menu for its current New York City locations includes parfaits, coffee, cheese tea, milk tea, fruit tea and Uji matcha — a type of green tea.
Industrious, a new coworking space, launched last Wednesday (April 24) in the heart of Tysons as part of an expansion across Northern Virginia.
“It’s a rich market, especially with Amazon moving in,” Joyce Oh, an area manager for Industrious, said. “We’re trying to be proactive and support the companies there.”
Before its official launch, Industrious recently hosted several events in the new space at 1660 International Drive.
The company also has a new Ballston location in Arlington and a location in Alexandria, with another opening in the Courthouse neighborhood of Arlington later this year or early next year. While Amazon and Alexandria are the main hubs of Amazon-hullabaloo, Oh said Tysons as a hub for other government contractors and consulting firms made it a perfect target for a new coworking space.
“We were excited to open with higher occupancy [than normal],” Oh said. “It speaks to the level of demand we see in the market and the different product.”
Oh said that most of the offices are built with one to eight people in mind, though if they find a demand for larger offices, Oh said that’s something the company could look into.
Industrious fits 300 at max capacity, with individual rooms able to support up to 12 people. Oh said prices vary by the size of the office, with smaller offices starting at $800 per month or coworking memberships for a desk at the facility at $515.
While there are already a handful of other coworking spaces in Tysons, like MakeOffices and WeWork, Oh said Industrious sets itself apart with a more “mature” aesthetic and sense of hospitality.
“We’re a coworking office, but we train our staff to be hospitality staff and make members feel at home,” Oh said. “It attracts a different type of demographic. If you walk into Industrious, the space feels more mature than other coworking spaces. There’s a lot of maple — a lot of natural woods. We have a more polished feel.”
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).
