Landmark/Van Dorn Area Planning

The Landmark/Van Dorn Corridor Plan was approved by City Council in 2009, updated in 2019, and amended in 2021 to include updated recommendations for the former Landmark Mall site. This page provides information and materials related to the former Landmark Mall site redevelopment, as well as links to previous planning processes, the Landmark/Van Dorn Corridor Plan, and the Eisenhower West/Landmark Van Dorn Advisory Group.
Page updated on September 13, 2023 at 2:17 PM
Landmark Block Site Map

At its July 6, 2021 meeting, City Council unanimously approved the redevelopment agreements for the site of the former Landmark Mall, which will result in up to approximately four million square feet of new development. The project will be anchored by the relocation and expansion of Inova’s new state-of-the-art Alexandria Hospital bringing more than 2,000 health care workers to the medical campus. This transformational project—led by developer Foulger-Pratt—was named by the Washington Business Journal as the 2020 Real Estate Deal of the Year. Learn more.

The applicant team for the former Landmark Mall site has rebranded the site as the West End and is providing development updates, including notices about community meetings, on their website. Additional background and meeting information can also be found on INOVA's Hospital Campus website.

Landmark Mall Site Redevelopment Process

West End/Landmark Mall Site 2021-2022 Applicant Development Submissions

Applicant submissions to the City for redevelopment following City Council's July 2021 approval of master plan amendments, a rezoning, and coordinated development concept design plan enabling redevelopment of the Landmark Mall site are listed below:

Landmark 2020-2021 Master Plan Amendment (MPA), Coordinated Development Design (CDD) Concept Plan and Rezoning Process

On July 6, 2021, City Council approved master plan amendments to the Landmark Van Dorn Corridor Plan, a rezoning and coordinated development concept design plan enabling redevelopment of the Landmark Mall site.  

community engagement events

City Financial Participation

To facilitate the redevelopment of the Landmark site, the transaction includes investment of (a) $54 million in public bond funds to acquire land to lease to Inova for the proposed hospital and related medical facilities, and (b) $123.6 million in public bond funds for Landmark site preparation and infrastructure costs. By investing public funds (which has been contemplated as far back as 2004), the City would accelerate the revitalization of Alexandria’s West End. This investment of public monies through the use of bonds will enable to the City to tap into future tax revenues generated by the site’s redevelopment backstopped by special assessments imposed on the property within the Landmark Community Development Authority (“CDA”) district to repay those bonds. This method of financing is a form of Tax Increment Financing (a “TIF”), which is a commonly used method of public economic development financing utilized in the United States.  The Potomac Yard Metrorail Station now under construction is largely a TIF-funded project. It is projected that over a 30-year period, the net gain for the City to pay for Landmark and citywide services is $810 million. 

The initial agreement announced on December 21, 2020, was a non-binding Preliminary Term Sheet document that explains the intent of the City of Alexandria; Inova Health System; and a development joint venture of Foulger-Pratt, The Howard Hughes Corporation, and Seritage Growth Properties (a publicly-traded, self-administered and self-managed real estate investment trust headquartered in New York, which owns a portion of the Landmark site). The Preliminary Term Sheet represented the framework of the proposed City financial participation that the City Manager planned to recommend to the community and City Council. The non-binding Preliminary Term Sheet agreement laid out the principal business terms and responsibilities among the parties, which provided a foundation for formal regulatory applications. 

At its July 6, 2021 meeting, the Alexandria City Council unanimously approved the redevelopment agreements for the site of the former Landmark Mall. On September 18, 2021, the City Council adopted the Landmark CDA ordinance to enable the creation of the Landmark CDA. At its May 23, 2023 the City Council unanimously approved the revised funding plan for the project. To the extent that the incremental tax revenues at the Landmark site are less than the amounts due on the general obligation capital improvement bonds (“City Bonds”), the City shall be entitled to seek reimbursement for any City funds applied to pay debt service on the City Bonds through the collection of annual installments of the special assessments within the Landmark CDA.

Any future development review, special use permits, rezoning or other approvals will be subject to all of the usual staff review and recommendations, public hearings, and approvals by the Planning Commission, City Council, or both.

Landmark Community Development Authority

The Landmark Community Development Authority (CDA) was created by ordinance of the City Council according to the Community Development Authority Act to impose voluntary special assessments as requested and agreed to by the landowners with the Landmark CDA district.

2018-2019 Landmark Mall Re-Planning Process

After lengthy delays as a result of changes to the Landmark Mall sites' ownership structure, changes in department store ownership and economics and the overall real estate market, in 2018 The Howard Hughes Corporation, partial owner of the Landmark Mall site since 2010, indicated their readiness to move forward with redevelopment, which required an update to the Landmark Mall framework plan and Landmark/Van Dorn Corridor Plan (2009). City Council approved this effort as a priority in the FY 2019 Long-Range Planning Work Program. The  Ad Hoc Eisenhower West/Landmark Van Dorn Implementation Advisory Group served as the community forum for the duration of the Landmark Mall re-planning process. 

On May 18, 2019, City Council adopted the new chapter to the Landmark/Van Dorn Corridor Plan developed during the Landmark Mall Re-Planning Process.

Community Meetings

background information

Eisenhower West / Landmark Van Dorn Implementation

The 2009 Landmark Van Dorn Corridor Plan and the 2015 Eisenhower West Small Area Plan both recommend establishment of an advisory group to provide guidance on implementation. Since the two plan areas overlap and share dependency on planned infrastructure, looking at the phasing and funding of both plans in concert will provide necessary coordination. This page provides information on these implementation efforts. 

2009 Landmark/Van Dorn Corridor Plan

Planning Process

On June 13, 2009, City Council unanimously adopted Ordinance 4598 incorporating the Landmark/Van Dorn Corridor Plan into the City's Master Plan as an amendment to the Landmark/Van Dorn Small Area Plan. 

The links below document the history of the development of the Landmark/Van Dorn Corridor Plan and provide additional background on the issues addressed and how policies were developed. These documents include presentations made at each of the community meetings during the planning process and notes on participation at key community workshops.

Meeting Materials

Additional Documents

 

Landmark/Van Dorn Advisory Group

The Landmark/Van Dorn Advisory Group was established by the City Council on November 19, 2007. The members of the group were appointed by the Mayor. A list of the members is at the link below. The resolution establishing the panel outlines its mission.

Advisory Group Draft Review 
The Advisory Group raised a number of issues regarding the draft plan at the meeting of November 17, and additional issues were raised in e-mails to staff. The document linked below provides a list of these issues and staff responses to them.

Questions?

  • For questions related to development projects, contact Jared Alves, Urban Planner, 703.746.3812.
  • All other questions, contact Richard Lawrence, Principal Planner, 703.850.9324