Acquisition of Macy’s opens the door to redevelopment of Ballston Common Mall

Published September 18, 2013 by Paula C. Squires

Forest City, owner of Ballston Common Mall in Arlington, has acquired the Macy’s Furniture Store building for a reported $13.4 million, a move that will jumpstart a plan to redevelop the aging mall.

The Home Store building is connected on three levels to the mall, located on Wilson Boulevard at Randolph Road, one block from the Ballston Metro station.

According to a company press release, proposed redevelopment plans call for updating the mall into a transit-oriented, urban mixed-use center featuring a blend of restaurants, entertainment and other contemporary, upscale retail options. 

Forest City also is considering the addition of a residential component. The mall’s existing Macy’s department store anchor will continue tobe a retail attraction of the redeveloped center, which will be renamed Ballston Center.

Before the redevelopment of the furniture store building could begin, Macy’s furniture department would be relocated to the lower level of the main store

The proposed, multiphase development plans, which require approval from the the Arlington County Board of Supervisors, include demolition of the former furniture store structure to redevelop new retail space on three levels. They would tie into a repositioned Ballston Center with a proposed residential building constructed above with its own street-level lobby entrance.

To improve street presence, several two-level, street-facing retail units, including restaurants, would be created along the mall’s Wilson Boulevard frontage.

“We’re very excited about our coming transformation into the new Ballston Center,” Deborah Ratner Salzberg, president of Forest City Washington, said in a statement. “The proposed elaborate changes throughout will be impressive in all facets. We are very pleased to have been able to work closely with Macy’s to accomplish this first major step in a redevelopment program that responds well to the significant growth in the Ballston market in recent years.”

Ballston Common was originally developed by Forest City in partnership with The May Co., and opened in 1986.
The 580,000-square-foot mall currently includes a Macy’s department store, a 12-screen Regal Cinemas, Sport and Health Club, the Kettler Capitals Iceplex and a food court.

Forest City Washington is the mid-Atlantic hub of Cleveland-based Forest City Enterprises, a national developer, owner and manager of retail, office and residential properties in 26 states and D.C.

Within the Washington metro area, Forest City Washington also is developing The Yards, a new waterfront mixed-use neighborhood in the Capitol Riverfront district adjacent to the Nationals Ballpark.