At the intersection of lee hwy and gallows rd, where the taco bell,BoA, used to be. I've heard expanding lanes for the roads, but i also heard a town center is being made.
So whats the deal?
Re: what's the deal with merrifield?
Posted by:
Beaner Hombre
()
Date: January 22, 2009 06:24PM
I dunno but I miss mi pinche Taco's and bad burrito shits.
Merrifield is a pit. Its that simple. The zoning has doomed it to be forever crap.
Re: what's the deal with merrifield?
Posted by:
WingNut
()
Date: January 22, 2009 07:45PM
Yeah, they have huge plans for the area and their thinking is a good 2 to 3 years too late. The intersection is getting a long needed expansion and there is a beautification project for Lee Highway. The tool rental place, the scrap metal and light industrial stuff behind the mutliplex are/were a waste of real estate. Until the early 80's there were still cow pastures out there.
The high end condos on Gallows south of 29, I thin k they are called Vantage or something. are one of the biggest miscalculations since the New Coke. Nobody is buying and I think they have turned them into a rental community.
The Mosiac center and two other large developments are behind schedule but are moving forward. The fact that we have the Dunn Loring metro at one side and all the Exxon-Fairfax Hospital jobs on the other make the Gallows and Lee Hwy area one of the best places in Fairfax for new development. The fact that Merrifield has been "crap" or a "pit" for 30 years plus the county planning and zoning push for high density developments near Metro stations makes this an easy choice for large projects. I ask you to remember what a "pit" Ballston was 10 years ago.
Re: what's the deal with merrifield?
Posted by:
DJ
()
Date: January 23, 2009 02:30PM
Yes, Vantage is all rental now b/c purchasers were cancelling their contracts like it was 1929, but most of the purchasers were investors and thought they could make some fast cash - but all in all Vantage has improved the area and so will the town center, but they need to get to work on getting rid/fixing up that "fer shit" mall on the corner also
Re: what's the deal with merrifield?
Posted by:
Hey Man,
()
Date: January 23, 2009 08:58PM
DJ Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Yes, Vantage is all rental now b/c purchasers were
> cancelling their contracts like it was 1929, but
> most of the purchasers were investors and thought
> they could make some fast cash - but all in all
> Vantage has improved the area and so will the town
> center, but they need to get to work on getting
> rid/fixing up that "fer shit" mall on the corner
> also
Leave my Arby's alone.
Re: what's the deal with merrifield?
Posted by:
Bob in Southeast Loudoun
()
Date: January 26, 2009 05:00PM
Did anyone get to try Dad's Backyard Burgers on Gallows in that little strip with zPizza and Pilin Thai? They were in the process of opening for about two years, then opened for about two weeks, then closed forever.
The burger was not bad.
Re: what's the deal with merrifield?
Posted by:
NotMarriott
()
Date: January 26, 2009 07:44PM
the Courtyard(by Marriott) hotel next to Dunn Loring metro station
is really expensive.... $200 per night.... I was trying to book a
room from my friends who are visiting this area next month....
ended up booking Ritz-Carlton at Tysons for $149 per night for 6 nights,
with their special package....
I really don't get how that Courtyard stays in business at those
high prices... even compared to the Ritz-Carlton.
NotMarriott Wrote: >>> I really don't get how that Courtyard stays in business at those high prices...
Because the demand for rooms within walking distance of a metro stop is high.
Re: what's the deal with merrifield?
Posted by:
Mo Fairfax Mo Problems
()
Date: January 26, 2009 08:51PM
The Department of State does training in the Merrifield area and puts their people up at the Courtyard for weeks at a time.
Re: what's the deal with merrifield?
Posted by:
yourcruisedirector
()
Date: January 26, 2009 09:07PM
> NotMarriott Wrote:
>
>
> Because the demand for rooms within walking
> distance of a metro stop is high.
Exactly.
Re: what's the deal with merrifield?
Posted by:
JohnK1
()
Date: January 26, 2009 09:07PM
- a) They are making Gallows 6 lanes from Metro to US 50
- b) Vantage building is start of Merrifield Town Center
- c) Some great food in the building - The Sea Pearl is outstanding
- d) Everything else is behind schedule, but making progress
- e) Plan is to have a "main" street through Merrifield
- f) New Movie Theatre (Remember when that was a drive in!
- g) One day, yes one day Merrifield Town Center will be great.
Re: what's the deal with merrifield?
Posted by:
Veedott
()
Date: January 26, 2009 09:27PM
I heard that the 29/Gallows Road intersection was going to be turned into a flyover, or vertical separation, intersection, or whatever it is officially called (one of the roads going over the top of the other, with associated on/off ramps, etc.), much like Rt. 50 and Gallows is now, or like Rt. 29 and Rt. 28 out in Clifton/Centreville.
Re: what's the deal with merrifield?
Posted by:
JohnK1
()
Date: January 26, 2009 09:31PM
No flyover/vertical.... that was taken off the VDOT table a while ago.. at grade intersection
Re: what's the deal with merrifield?
Posted by:
Veedott
()
Date: January 26, 2009 09:46PM
Well, even if the disapproval of a flyover is true (and I had heard it from a business owner in the area only a couple of months ago, I figured he would be current on it), I still have to take issue with your assessment of the Sea Pearl as serving outstanding food. I was not quite so impressed. I have heard Four Sisters is really good, I have not made it there yet.
I do remember the drive in theater where the Multiplex is now ... we used to park behind Best & Co. and watch without the benefit of the soundtrack ... it helped if we had seen the movie before!
Re: what's the deal with merrifield?
Posted by:
opie
()
Date: January 26, 2009 10:30PM
Its all about location. At the Exxon end or Taco Bell end, you cant beat it. Granted Merrifield has lost its Drive Inn, Jack in the Box and other classic hangouts. What do you think is planned For Woodburn Condos? I would think that INOVA would try and buy them out. The hospital has little if any room left to expand. Do you think that will ever happen?
Merrifield Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The Mosiac center and two other large developments
> are behind schedule but are moving forward. The
> fact that we have the Dunn Loring metro at one
> side and all the Exxon-Fairfax Hospital jobs on
> the other make the Gallows and Lee Hwy area one of
> the best places in Fairfax for new development.
> The fact that Merrifield has been "crap" or a
> "pit" for 30 years plus the county planning and
> zoning push for high density developments near
> Metro stations makes this an easy choice for large
> projects. I ask you to remember what a "pit"
> Ballston was 10 years ago.
I lived in the Ballston area in mid 80's (before the new mall was built). It was not a pit it was charming. Lots of residential, put-put golf on Glebe and Wilson a brand new METRO, nice restaurants (really not packed with fast food holes). Nice night clubs. Green space. Beautiful public library. A bike path. Affordable housing in homes and apartments.
I worked and went to school in the city and did not need a car. I could jog to DC, the Potomac or the rose gardens and tennis courts at off Wilson. There was a Hechts and lots of mom and pop shops all this accessible by foot, or public transportation.
Merrifield, not so much. I mean I am talking about 1981 in Ballston. Merrifield is crap today, 27 years later. Hey I hope it gets better but the zoning and planning there suck. Green space? Right. Walking? Public library? Nice bars? Mass transit? lollers-to-keep-from-crying...
Re: what's the deal with merrifield?
Posted by:
qwerty
()
Date: January 28, 2009 03:14PM
Will the Merrifield Nursery stay?
Re: what's the deal with merrifield?
Posted by:
WingNut
()
Date: January 28, 2009 06:04PM
qwerty Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Will the Merrifield Nursery stay?
I heard they had a really generous offer for the land 2-3 years ago but were stubbornly waiting for prices to "really go up". Should have taken it and danced right to the bank, moved the operation west in the county somewhere on rented land.
NotMarriott Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> ended up booking Ritz-Carlton at Tysons for $149
> per night for 6 nights,
> with their special package....
>
Normally the Ritz/Tysons is $400+. It must have been the fact that you booked the room for a 6 night special, I guess ( I still find $149 a night hard to believe). Don't drink the bottled water in the mini fridge, unless you don't mind paying ten times what something is worth.
Re: what's the deal with merrifield?
Posted by:
WingNut
()
Date: January 29, 2009 07:30AM
RESton Peace Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> You mean, like the other Merrifield Garden Center
> on the west side of the county?
Maybe the retail couldn't relocate as easy, but all of the landscape trucks and equip that go out from Merrifield every morning could easily call some industrial park in Chantilly home. For the money the owners would have got from the sale of the Metro proxiamte land, I wouldn't sweat the lost income from the shrubs and mulch if I couldn't find another location.