2050 Eastern Gateway Concept Plan - City of Falls Church

These are issues that the City of Falls Church hopes to deal with
in future redevelopment of Eden Center, while retaining as
many of the Vietnamese-American tenants as possible in the
process.
Constraints and Opportunities
The Eastern Gateway site presents several constraints and
opportunities for redevelopment.
Constraints:
• Oakwood Cemetery. The cemetery is a constraint in
that it takes up a large, centrally located portion of the
site. This limits the ability to create internal pathways to
facilitate movement and creates some odd-shaped
parcels. In addition, it limits the ability to make
connections between the site and the neighborhoods of
Falls Church immediately to the west.
• Proximity to Fairfax County Line. The ability to create
a node of activity is limited to what Falls Church has
direct influence on, but which is directly affected by
development immediately adjacent in the Fairfax
County portion of Seven Corners. This includes the odd
parcel of the animal hospital that appears to be in Falls
Church but is actually located in Fairfax County.
• Unfriendly Pedestrian Environment. Vehicles driving
through Seven Corners are not alerted to the presence
of pedestrians, sidewalks are minimal where they exist
at all, and pedestrian crossings are hazardous.
Attracting street life will be difficult as long as Seven
Corners is primarily seen as a vehicular intersection.
• No Major Transit Stop on Site. Attracting pedestrians
and thus a more lively street life will be challenging
because Seven Corners does not have a major transit
station to bring people who will walk. There is an extralarge
bus stop at the Seven Corners shopping mall in
Fairfax County, but the Falls Church portion of Seven
Corners does not include even a bus shelter; pedestrian
connections between this Seven Corners bus stop and the
Eastern Gateway are hazardous and unfriendly.
• Negative Perception of Seven Corners. In general,
Seven Corners is not regarded as a pleasant place to
be by local residents, who instead view it as a
frustrating, confusing, and congested intersection.
• Successful But Congested Eden Center. Eden Center is
a thriving retail shopping center that could benefit from
redevelopment and density intensification. A challenge
for redevelopment will be keeping the smaller,
Vietnamese-American tenants operational and successful
during the construction of a redeveloped Eden Center.
Opportunities:
• Elevation. The Falls Church portion of Seven Corners
includes some of the highest terrain in the area.