Landmark Mall redevelopment in the works

Used as a vintage backdrop to film scenes for “Wonder Woman 1984” and anchored by bankrupt retailers like Sears, the Landmark Mall in Alexandria was a relic.

Almost two decades ago, the City of Alexandria first began strategizing a redevelopment of the 1960s-era indoor mall, which closed in 2017, but plans for a new 18-hour community to take its place are now coming to fruition as construction is slated to begin this year.

“The community vision for the site is to really move away from the suburban interior mall surrounded by scenes of surface parking to a street grid layout that mimics lots of other parts of Alexandria in terms of size, scale and mixture of uses,” says Alexandria Economic Development Partnership President and CEO Stephanie Landrum.

Rebranded as WestEnd Alexandria, half of the 52-acre site is being developed by Foulger-Pratt in partnership with Seritage Growth Properties and Howard Hughes Holdings into a $1 billion project with as much as 290,000 square feet of retail and 1,962 housing units spread across almost 3 million square feet. The other half will be repurposed into a $2 billion, 1.1 million-square-foot hospital for anchor tenant Inova Health System, with a 2028 opening planned.

Vertical construction on WestEnd’s first phase is expected to start later this year, although a specific date is not yet set, according to Jay Kelly, vice president of development at Foulger-Pratt. That phase comprises a 120,000-square-foot medical office, and three multifamily buildings totaling 1,117 units with about 217,000 square feet of retail.

Foulger-Pratt also plans to seek permitting approval for four more buildings at WestEnd between 2025 and 2027, including approximately 1,000 housing units, a hotel and retail space. Foulger-Pratt is still in talks with tenants for the commercial space at WestEnd, but agreements are in the works with two anchor retailers, a large-format gym and a “big box retailer,” Kelly says.

The project remains on schedule as of early May, he adds, although costs have risen. The city’s investment is at about $185 million as of May, and the entire project is expected to cost “north of $3.2 billion,” Kelly says.

“In a very tough economic time, we’re excited about momentum and growth in that area of the city,” he notes. “It’s going to be a challenge to get projects financed right now and we’re up for it.”