A developer has set its sights on overhauling the modest retail centers at a popular intersection in Arlington’s Buckingham Historical District in favor of a large, mixed-use development.
Georgetown Strategic Capital has drafted preliminary plans to tear down the buildings on the west side of the North Glebe Road and North Pershing Drive intersection, which currently house a CVS, Glebe Market, Popeye’s and several other small stores, and replace them with a four-story building with significant commercial, retail and residential space.
The developer presented the early plans to a county Historic Affairs and Landmark Review Board committee last week, and got a “general thumbs-up,” according to Rebeccah Ballo, a preservation planner for the county’s planning department.
“The retail that is there now is low-scale retail, because that’s what was originally developed there in the 1930s and 40s,” Ballo said. “The scale the developer is proposing is much larger than what’s there now.”
“Glebe Road was originally intended to be a boulevard, but the street just falls apart,” she added. “The idea is to bring some of that back.”
The intersection in question has been mired in traffic issues and has received county funding for underground rewiring and increased pedestrian safety provisions, said Buckingham Community Civic Association president Patrick Hope.
“The big concerns for us will be traffic and parking and to make sure that the buildings aren’t too high,” Hope said. “But from what we’ve seen, we think it’s going to be an improvement to the area.”
The developers will present their plans, which are in an early stage, to the full historic-affairs board Jan. 30.
