2050 Eastern Gateway Concept Plan - City of Falls Church

Eden Center Plan
The Vision
Eden Center is redesigned as a vibrant retail center that offers
active street life due to a mix and balance of uses that allows
for round-the-clock activity. The new Eden Center will be easy
to access via an adjacent transit center. Surrounding
neighborhoods will be able to access the Eden Center from
safe, attractive, and intuitive pedestrian linkages and bike
routes. Visitors arriving by car will be able to access Eden
Center from multiple points, due to a new street network. After
exiting hidden structured and underground parking, residents
and guests will find it attractive and practical to explore Eden
Center and the surrounding attractions on foot.
Eden Center will remain an important center of Vietnamese
commercial activity. Added uses and an enhanced street scene
with new outdoor spaces will provide places for resting and
people-watching, as well as spaces or areas for festivals and
public events. Improved transit marketing and connectivity will
bring additional visitors from throughout the metropolitan
region, and make visits easier and more memorable for tourists
traveling from further distances. The vitality of Eden Center will
be enhanced by new and interesting uses. Office buildings with
ground-level commercial use will attract activity during the day,
and will be complemented by commercial, retail, and
residential activity in the evening. This synergy of mixed uses
provides support for a vibrant corridor at all times of the day.
Existing Site Conditions
The current Eden Center site consists of approximately 16 acres,
or 703,624 square feet of area. The current site uses include a
shopping center (15.3 acres), a gas station (0.39 acres), and a
stand-alone retail site (0.43 acres). The buildings on each of the
sites are surrounded predominantly by surface parking, which
results in a very low density. The average floor area ratio (FAR)
is 0.29 for the three properties combined. The area is currently
zoned for light industry (M-1), with future plans calling for the
area to be designated for “Business” uses, according to the
2005 City of Falls Church Comprehensive Plan.
The existing retail structures were all built in the early 1960’s,
and the gas station was built in 1988. Since then, the retail
buildings have been upgraded and well maintained, but the
value of the structures themselves is low when compared to the
land value. Clearly, the site is not performing to its best
economic potential. The sidewalks in front of the stores are
narrow and do not allow sufficient space for retail activity,
outdoor dining, or public space. The parking lot of the large site
is primarily accessible from Wilson Boulevard. Other points of
access are limited. From Roosevelt Boulevard, there are no left
turns for automobiles to access the site. Other access points from
Wilson and Roosevelt are limited, and there is no connectivity
with surrounding properties. The traffic backups in the parking