The rumors that Whole Foods is going to open in the The Spectrum at Reston Town Center have been confirmed.
Documents from Lerner — the operator of the shopping center — now show Whole Foods as an anchor tenant at the center and the upscale supermarket is listed as “recently signed.”
The Burn first broke the news that a Whole Foods store was in the works for The Spectrum last November. Documents posted online showed the store as a future tenant at The Spectrum going into the former Best Buy space next door to the Container Store.
At the time, no one would comment officially on it and the documents disappeared. So, we’ve been in a wait-and-see mode.
Now, Lerner has apparently thrown in the towel on trying to keep things under wraps and has officially listed the store as a new tenant.
It’s the second major new business signed at the center. The Burn was the first to break the news last year that a Barnes & Noble store was in the works for The Spectrum as well.
It’s going into a spot next to the Harris Teeter grocery store and is tentatively on track to open in June.
And if you’re wondering how two different grocery stores — Whole Foods and Harris Teeter — can both take spots in a single shopping center, you’re not off base. It is unusual, but not unheard of.
Meanwhile, the current Whole Foods at the Plaza America shopping center sits roughly 1.5 miles away from The Spectrum location. It’s believed that location will close when the new store opens — employees have indicated as much — but no official announcement has been made yet.
(Image at top: BRR Architecture)