APRIL 21, 1999

Developments Booming Virginia
County Gets a Mini-City
By Vicki Lee Parker Staff Reporter
of The Wall Street Journal

Sterling, VA.

One of the largest real-estate developers in the Washington area is just months shy of opening the first phase of what is essentially a mini-city in the heart of this wooded Northern Virginia suburb.

In August, Lerner Enterprises plans to formally open a 1.2 million-square-foot mall as the anchor of a 554-acre mixed-use project, Dulles Town Center. Named for Washington Dulles International Airport five miles to the north, the center is being built in a town that exists in name only. "If we built a hospital and cemetery, you'd never have to leave," says Arthur Fuccillo, a development director for Lerner. Mr. Fuccillo says they wanted to create an urban-like environment that has something for everybody.

It will include more than 300 town homes - 100 of them already sold; more than 400 luxury apartments, available in 2001; and a KinderCare Learning Center, to open this spring. Opening in 2000 will be a concert amphitheater, a 15-screen movie theater, and two full-service hotels, including a Marriott Courtyard. Lerner is also negotiating with companies interested in leasing space in the center's 4.5 million-square-foot office campus, to be completed by late 2001.

The Bethesda, Md., developer is building the mall with Cigna Corp.'s Cigna Investment Management unit, Hartford, Conn. Four anchor stores - Hecht's, Lord & Taylor; Sears and JCPenney - have already opened; the developers are negotiating with Nordstrom as a possible fifth anchor. The Disney Store, Eddie Bauer, Victoria's Secret, the Gap and Legal Seafood are among the 132 retailers and restaurants scheduled to open this month.

Mark Lerner, a partner of Lerner Enterprises, says the plans for Dulles Town Center were approved by the county more than 10 years ago. But retailers weren't interested in moving out to the sparsely populated county, and Lerner held off construction. Then, in the 1990s came an influx of small and large technology firms, particularly America Online Inc. The resulting population spike sparked the interest of major department stores, which began contacting Lerner about its projects, says Mr. Lerner. Dulles Town Center is the latest of several huge mixed-use complexes that have sprung up along Route 7 in Loudoun, whose population ballooned 67% from 1990 to 1998, making it the nation's third-fastest growing county, was threatening its countryside landscape.

Lerner hosted a town meeting on the kinds of community services the mall should include. The results: a 7,000-square-foot center court for community events such as plays, bazaars, glee clubs and award ceremonies, plus two side courts. One, sponsored by USAir, will be used as a children's play area; the second is an interactive multimedia station with computers and television, which Lerner wants America Online to co-sponsor.

To help maintain the green scenery, Lerner agreed to build the mall at least a half-mile off Route 7 and construct a $30 million road network that intersects with the main roads. The Town Center complex also includes a park with jogging trail, ponds and soccer field surrounded by acres of trees.