In Falls Church, a Little City With a Big Boom

Map It:  East Falls Church   West Falls Church 

STEP INSIDE the white-pewed hush of The Falls Church, a 1769 red brick building just inside the Beltway in Virginia, and it’s easy to imagine this place’s storied past. Volunteers signed up to fight in the American Revolution here. Injured Union soldiers slept within these walls when the church served as a Civil War hospital. Countless Virginians got married, baptized babies and had their funeral rites read within the Georgian edifice, pictured here.

But outside, the views from the church’s bucolic graveyard suggest that the 21st century (and development) has finally zoomed into Falls Church City, the once-sleepy town that surrounds the church. A mammoth steel crane, now a common sight in these parts, marks the construction site where the 230-unit, six-story Pearson Square condo development is taking shape. One- to three-bedroom units priced from the low $300s to the mid $700s should start delivering this fall.

Also expected to debut in 2007: the still-under-construction Spectrum on West Broad Street. The building will feature an earth-friendly "green roof" and 189 one- and two-bedroom units ($400,000-$850,000) outfitted with equally green bamboo or cork floors and 9-foot ceilings.

These and a clutch of other, already occupied new condos, combined with new restaurants and an uptick in commercial projects, are helping to turn this small, incorporated city known for its top-notch schools and village-like feel into a far more urbanized place. Sidewalks seem more crowded, cafes seem more plentiful (and populated) and the area has the buzz — and the buzz-saw noise — of a neighborhood on its way up.

"It's getting younger and hipper," says Tom Carter, who rehabbed and reopened the State Theatre in 1998. The circa-1936 structure, a longtime movie house, now operates as a concert venue, hosting everyone from Don "American Pie" McLean to up-and-comers Of Montreal.

"It used to be a quiet community. But when you build condos, they attract young professionals, people 25 to maybe 50," he says. "And they need places to go and things to do."

Abutted by Arlington County to the east and surrounded on all other sides by Fairfax County, Falls Church City lies just six miles west of the District. One of the United States' smallest independent cities, the municipality measures just 2.2 square miles, most of them close to Broad Street, the town's main drag (perhaps better known as Route 7 or Leesburg Pike).

Falls Church City separated from Fairfax County in 1948, when civic leaders decided they wanted to create a stellar school system. Properties in neighboring Fairfax County communities (like Pimmit Hills near Tysons Corner and Sleepy Hollow near Bailey's Crossroads) also bear a Falls Church mailing address. But due to those good schools, the most prestigious (and often, expensive) addresses remain in the city itself.

"People want to buy in this area because it's got a community feeling that's very old-school and family-friendly," says Diana Bagay, a real estate agent with the McLean office of McEnearney Associates, who often sells properties in Falls Church. "There's a farmers' market and activities on New Year's Eve, things that are very important, especially to young families."

And in a region where single family homes often run $500,000 and up, condos provide a more affordable alternative. "In the past, price could really be prohibitive for young buyers," says Judy White, a vice president with Weichert Realtors corporate headquarters. She herself recently purchased a one-bedroom unit at the Byron, a luxe building on Broad Street. "Bringing these condo properties in is definitely making Falls Church more diverse."

New residents who buy at developments like the Spectrum and the Byron, a 90-unit property where remaining apartments range from a $469,999 one-bedroom to a spacious penthouse for $1.2 million, will find themselves in the midst of an almost Norman Rockwellian, walkable downtown. Retro businesses abound, including Brown's Hardware (100 W. Broad St.; 703-532-1168), which has been in the tools and nails trade since 1883.

There's also a farmers' market held each Saturday on the grounds of City Hall (Little Falls Street and Park Avenue). It draws families with strollers and young singles to its stalls selling fresh bread, Virginia buffalo steaks and heirloom tomatoes. On the way in and out of the market, locals often stop at the adjacent Cherry Hill Park, a bucolic greenspace dominated by an 1845 wooden farmhouse (312 Park Ave.; 703-248-5171) that is open for tours Mon.-Thurs. 10 a.m.-3 p.m.

Indie retailers and restaurants dominate Falls Church's major thoroughfares, West Broad and North Washington streets, adding to the small-town vibe. Locals with laptops and toddlers in tow camp out at Stacy's Coffee Parlor (709 W. Broad St.; 703-538-6266), where shabby chic sofas and local artwork set the scene for a menu of Moxley’s ice cream and high-voltage cuppas. Anthony’s Restaurant (309 W. Broad St.; 703-532-0100), a 25-year-old Greek-American diner, attracts fans with its souvlaki and omelets.

"I love getting up and walking up to Anthony’s for breakfast," says Jim Saulsbury, 60, who, with his wife, Diane Bruner, recently bought and moved into a two-bedroom unit at the Byron. "There are so many restaurants like that we can walk to."

Other dining options in the neighborhood range from Italian hangout Argia's (124 N. Washington St.; 703-534-1033), where dolce vita vino and good fried calamari are served in a room with a Renaissance-style wall mural or at a convivial bar (pictured at left), to the new Clare and Don's Beach Shack (130 N. Washington St.; 703-532-9283). The latter dishes up burgers, fried fish and an "are-we-in-Key West?" atmosphere (buoys and shells as decoration, a breezy outdoor patio).

Quirky shops, many specializing in second-hand merch, also line the streets. Faves include a toy store, Doodlehopper 4 Kids (228 W. Broad St.; 703-241-2262), and Beyond the Garden Gate (450 W. Broad St.; 703-752-5226), an emporium of bath products and flower pots.
All this feels very old-fashioned and Mayberryish. But progress, both from condos and other new construction, is bringing noticeable changes to the landscape of mid 20th-century storefronts and brick colonials, for better or worse.

"If you drive down Route 7, it looks so different already. Where there was empty space and a condemned gas station, now you see buildings going up," says Nicholas F. Benton, editor of the feisty Falls Church News-Press, which disseminates political editorials and civic news along with listings of area art shows and blurbs on Lions Club activities. "These condo developments are creating a much bigger basis for our economy, more people to eat in our restaurants," he says. "But it’s not being done in a roughshod way. I don’t think Tysonization is going to happen here."

It helps that Falls Church government seems to be practicing restraint, taking its time approving new projects, like Atlantic Realty Companies’ proposed City Center development, which will bring new condos, a Harris Teeter grocery store, and other retail and office space to a five-acre plot currently occupied by a Bowl America on South Maple Avenue.

"We're witnessing a huge change in Falls Church," says Adam Roth, co-owner of Argia's. "On one hand, you still see little cottages with businesses like palm readers or tattoo parlors. But we're also seeing new condo and retail developments that better utilize space. It's good for business, but I’m afraid the traffic is going to get worse."

The roads around here are packed for good reason: Falls Church, located close to the Beltway, I-66 and two Orange Line Metrorail stations, is popular with commuters, who find that living here gives them easy, if slightly clogged, access to jobs in D.C. or the Virginia suburbs. "People buy into the area because of that convenience," says Bagay. "It's close to all the major arteries, and being near all that shopping at Tysons Corner is terrific."

Julie Litzenberger, 29, who works in public relations for Sage Communications, closed in November on a one-bedroom condo at The Westlee, a development on the Falls Church City-Arlington County line. Though she had been renting in Ballston, she finds that the Westlee (a unit pictured here) is also convenient. "I work in Tysons, so living here has shaved 10 minutes off my commute," she says. "Plus, I’m walking distance from the East Falls Church Metro and the WO&D bike path."

Units in the Westlee are still selling. They range from one-bedrooms with dens to two-bedrooms with dens, priced from $387,000 to $725,000. Features include rich pecan floors in the units and access to a plush party room.

Westlee developer Mark Silverwood of Silverwood Companies chose to build here because, he says, "I found the area to be grossly underserved by high-density residential properties. With Ballston and Clarendon all built up, this area could really take off."

Photos by Michelle Repiso/Express; last photo courtesy Silverwood Cos.