Other than fried chicken, there’s nothing The Burn loves more than a good mystery. And we’ve got a small one brewing in Sterling this morning.
As regular readers know, the Guilford Station development has been coming online and picking up speed in recent months. That’s the new retail center under construction near the corner of Church Road and Atlantic Boulevard, just off State Road 28.
A large Enterprise rental car facility is based there, and a new 7-Eleven opened there a few months back. The Burn has also reported on The Human Bean, a new drive-thru coffee shop that is going in across from 7-Eleven later this year.
Recently, we also reported about a possible tennis and pickleball center that is considering a spot at Guilford Station. So much going on!
Now we’ve got a few more clues about possible future tenants at the center — and one of them could be a Dairy Queen Grill & Chill drive-thru restaurant.
If you’re not familiar with the Grill & Chill concept — it’s a full-fledged fast-food restaurant with burgers, chicken tenders, french fries and more — plus all the usual DQ ice cream treats.
According to filings with Loudoun County, the developer is considering adding a new retail building and a restaurant building to Guilford Station. The filings show the retail building could be a new Goodwill store. However, there is no brand name attached to the restaurant building.
But the paperwork does show the restaurant being 2,208 s.f. and its labeled with the unusual name “Core 46.” A little online research shows that Core 46 is the name of one of the standard building designs for a DQ Grill & Chill. And guess what the square footage is on a Core 46 DQ — yep, it’s 2,208 s.f. (or 2,207 s.f. on some documents).
We’ve reached out to the developer for more information, but haven’t gotten a response yet.
According to the Dairy Queen website, there are three DQs in Loudoun County currently, but only one — in Leesburg — is a Chill & Grill location. The others — in Ashburn and South Riding — are what the brand calls “treat only” — i.e. a more limited menu focusing primarily on ice cream.
As with any of The Burn’s morning mysteries, it’s important to point out that even if we are correct about the DQ — and we probably are — that doesn’t mean the plans will come to fruition. Many brands explore locations and options in Loudoun County, but for a myriad of reasons, the deals sometimes don’t go through.
Actually, the Ashburn location that I know of, which is at Ashburn Village Center, appears to have a pretty full menu. It is my go-to for chili cheese dogs and the occasional burger. So, not just the cold items. Obviously not a drive-through, which would be convenient, but still a nice place for a hot bite with an Orange Julius.
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