For years now, folks in Ashburn have been waiting to see what would happen with the Village Center at Belmont Greene shopping center and the former Bloom grocery store space. Now there’s a proposal to build additional homes on part of the property and add a gas station and car wash as well.
The development at the intersection of Belmont Ridge Road and Portsmouth Boulevard has seemed to struggle over the years. The Bloom closed in 2010. While some of the store fronts have remained occupied (Ledo Pizza, Hunan Village), others have been vacant. More recently, in 2017 the CVS pharmacy across the street closed too. Spots long ago approved for fast food drive-thrus were never built on.
Now comes word that Atapco, the property’s new owner, is floating a plan to build what appear to be town homes or apartments along the south side of the property and in front of it as well, along Portsmouth. There is also a proposal to add a gas station and car wash near the intersection with Belmont Ridge. (See diagram above.)
Many locals have speculated that the property struggled because the land to the west of Belmont Ridge isn’t residential in that area. Instead, a large parcel is home to the Luck Stone rock quarry. Also, Belmont Ridge has long been a narrow, winding two-lane road. However, the ongoing four-laning of Belmont may increase traffic in the area, thereby boosting the prospects of the Belmont Greene center.
Despite all the buzz, there’s still no word on what might go into the former Bloom space. That’s 38,000 s.f. of nothing that local residents would like to see filled with some sort of new retail or other beneficial use.
(Image at top: Google Maps)
Just what we need….cram in more look-alike houses.
Our quiet ‘Neo-traditional’ neighborhood will soon be unrecognizable. Some kinda progress? Really?
I assume that “ADU” on that plan stands for “Affordable Dwelling Unit”. Neighbors may want to know that.
There is no way this will be gods for our neighborhood!! The schools are already crowed and the road congested. Affordable dwelling units never does what it is mandated. I have seen it happened before. This is not good at all.
I hope the county thinks long and hard before approving homes that will add more than 2 million is annual education costs to schools that don’t have the space in a community that does not want them. If the developer wanted to build homes, they should have bought land zoned for residential.
Loudoun county….where there is land..they will build!
Just keep bringing more people in…talk about overcrowding
So they intend to add a gas station, more homes to put more children into an already over crowded school, but leave that huge empty anchor store alone? Seriously?
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