Development

Retail plans submitted for Kincora in Loudoun

Once complete, the mighty Kincora project will take up a huge swath of land straddling the line between Ashburn and Sterling. It aspires to be filled with residential townhomes and apartments, streets filled with retail shops and restaurants, hotels, nature walks through the trees where herons nest — and not one, but two world class museums.

But it has been a long time coming — more than a decade. So far, several apartment buildings have been built on the property near the intersection of Route 7 and State Road 28. There’s also a Wawa and a fire station. And a church is under construction.

Now, besides that Wawa, the first proposed retail space — a block along Boru Drive filled with restaurants and shops on the ground level with residences above — is working its way through the Loudoun County land application system.

From what we can see, the plans involve two parcels of land in the main Kincora area near the current apartments off Russell Branch Parkway. One would have a five-story building, the other a seven-story building, both with retail on the first floor.

At this time, there is no information available about what tenants might take those spaces.

Images: Kincora

Other things moving forward at Kincora include a hotel and a childcare center at the south end of the project next to the Wawa that opened in April of this year. So far, the names/brands of the hotel and childcare center haven’t been publicly released.

There is also a spot there earmarked for a fast-food restaurant with a drive-thru, but there is no information about what restaurant might take that space.

The centerpiece of the whole Kincora project is the future Northern Virginia Science Center and the National Museum of Intelligence and Special Operations. Both museums continue to be in the fundraising phase and lining up major corporate benefactors, although we believe the Science Center is getting closer to a groundbreaking.