2050 Eastern Gateway Concept Plan - City of Falls Church

streetscape improvements address the need to activate the
street by including wider sidewalks, bicycle lanes, café seating,
and enhanced lighting and landscaping. The improved
streetscape design will provide an attractive location to
facilitate a 24-hour-a-day community.
Open spaces were strategically located
throughout the site to encourage
residents, visitors and employees of the
area to gather, recreate outdoors and
provide a central place for public events.
Public and private underground garages
are located throughout the site to
encourage individuals to leave behind
their cars and walk throughout the blocks
created by the enhanced street network
for the area. A transit center has been
added to the center of the site to
encourage individuals to visit the site via
alternative modes of transportation such
as by bus and eventually by streetcar.
Pedestrian-bicycle paths are located
along the perimeter of the site to provide pedestrians and
bicyclists with a protected pathway for circulation.
Thriving businesses at Eden Center. Source: Marco Rivero.
Center is of international importance to the region’s
Vietnamese-American citizens, because of the agglomeration of
Vietnamese and other Asian-owned retailers within its limits.
Consideration for the two cultural sites and preservation of the
existing Oakwood Cemetery were key factors in the design of
the plan for the Eastern Gateway.
The plan envisions that the Eastern Gateway
retain the culturally significant and thriving
businesses in the Eden Center while
increasing the overall commercial tax-base
of the City of Falls Church through creation
of a significant increase in office density. To
promote the Eastern Gateway as a 24-houra-day
community, the plan envisions dense
residential developments, public gathering
spaces, and recreational and park areas
throughout the site. New development should
adhere to the established city design
guidelines and ensure multimodal access to
and from the site. Consistent with its
comprehensive plan, the city should dedicate
recreational areas and open spaces to enhance quality of life
for future residents and employees in the Eastern Gateway.
The Eastern Gateway contains several culturally significant sites,
which the plan intends to preserve and enhance through design.
Fort Taylor Park, as a Civil War Union Army base, is a
historically significant area of the region and is located along
the western portion of the Koons auto dealership site. The Eden
The plan has carefully considered transitions between the
Eastern Gateway and the surrounding, stable neighborhoods.
The edges of the Eastern Gateway provide a buffered, heavily
landscaped area for recreational open space to preserve and
emphasize the transition between the dense developments