Development

Townhomes, apartments proposed for Cascades Marketplace

The long-struggling Cascades Marketplace shopping center in Sterling may be getting a new lease on life. Plans have been unveiled that would have the center getting a major makeover with the addition of new residential housing.

It was back in September that The Burn told readers about a new company taking over management of the property. At the time, the expectation was that something had to change. The current 400,000 s.f. retail-focused center wasn’t working.

In recent years, tenant after tenant has departed Cascades Marketplace. Pier One, Staples, Banner’s Hallmark Shop, Corner Bakery Cafe, Señor Tequilas, Boston Market, Noodles & Company and Baja Fresh are just some of the restaurants and stores that have left and most, if not all, of those spaces remain empty.

Now, a rezoning plan has been filed with Loudoun County that would basically divide the shopping center roughly into thirds.

Image: Cooley LLP

One third — where the Giant grocery store is located — would remain a retail center. Another third would be cleared and townhomes would go up.  And the final third would feature a large apartment or condo complex.

It appears most of the retail buildings around the Giant as well as the core retail street where the McDonald’s, Starbucks and The Don’s Wood-Fired Pizza are currently located would remain. We also spot several new buildings — including one where The Pit Stop BBQ is located currently that could be a future drive-thru Starbucks location. Just a hunch.

According to the plans, the developer wants to add approximately 160 two-over-two stacked townhome units and approximately 65 single-family attached townhomes to the property where Staples and Pier One used to be on the property’s south side.

And over where Gold’s Gym and Marshall’s are located in the northwest quadrant, the plans call for some 400 attached multi-family units — usually developer speak for an apartment or condo complex.

The filing indicates current tenants in the impacted areas would not be booted from the center, but rather the development would happen after existing long-term leases expire.

It’s important to note that the plans revealed in the documents are just preliminary. Nothing has been approved yet by the county. Right now, the developer is seeking to get the zoning restrictions on the property changed to allow residential units to be added to what was originally envisioned as a retail center. But as the developer points out in the filing, the retail center never lived up to its full potential.

(Archive image at top from Edens)

11 Comments
  1. Ray Desoto 2 years ago

    Can’t wait for all the “anti-housing” posts from people who already have a place to live.

  2. Aurin C Disla 2 years ago

    Who’s the developer behind the proposed project?

  3. Steve Honard 2 years ago

    I have my own place to live. I would like to start the anti-housing posts. I think we can pack many more affordable housing units into this space than is being proposed. I think the developer could double profit and revenue by cramming as much as possible into the smallest space available.

    • Kat 2 years ago

      +1. Those of us that bought real estate in Cascades did so precisely because of the small town center and community feel. This type of rezoning shouldn’t be allowed.

      • Andrew 2 years ago

        You and the others who bought real estate in Cascades should be allowed to pool your money and make a competitive offer to buy the land. Then you can do whatever you want with it.

        Your desire to control what others do with their stuff is peak commie talk. Maybe you should move to Cuba.

        • Randy Jensen 1 year ago

          I agree Andrew.

  4. todays 2 years ago

    Just what is needed, an apartment complex

  5. GO 2 years ago

    A good idea, but the design appears very banal and blockish. Too much surface parking with little landscaping.

    And the small, dated, HD with its massive, oversized parking lot remains.

  6. Lidia 2 years ago

    With additional housing going up where Regal Theatre was, where are all these kids going to go to school?

  7. Tim 2 years ago

    LOL, that parking lot is one of the smaller ones for Home Depots in the area. Trucks need space to move and park. The Home Depot itself is on par others in the area with and even a little bigger than some locations.

    Guess you’re part of the pro-“cramming as many people and cars into the area” as possible crowd. Why have retail when you can cram more people in, right? Buy everything from Jeff on Amazon!

    You’re probably just a paid shill for the developer, though. No one actually wants more overcrowding of n.VA schools, roads and neighborhoods.

  8. Randy 1 year ago

    Why not develop it more like RESTON, Leesburg and One Loudoun. Shops ground level and apts /condos on top of the commercial shops.

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