Penrose Square Project (Giant supermarket redevelopment)

In April, Carbon Thompson Developers and B.M. Smith and Associates have proposed a new development on Columbia Pike called Penrose Square. The new development would replace the Adams Square shopping center (including the current Giant Food supermarket and pharmacy) with a 63,000 square foot Giant grocery store, approximately 20,000 square feet of other retail, approximately 300 rental housing units, and a community plaza (Penrose Square). This is the third project to be proposed under the County’s Columbia Pike Initiative Form Based Code Ordinance, which was adopted in February 2003.

The first community meeting  on the project was on April 25, 2006.

County staff explained that the project , as conceived, does not meet all of the provisions of the Form Based Code. The proposed amendments address issues that could not have been anticipated at the time the Code was adopted. Some examples of issues to be addressed include: floor-to-ceiling height for the grocery store and other retail, location of alleys, streets, and garage entrances on the site, and grocery store loading.

A second community meeting will be held on Thursday, June 15, 2006, at the Walter Reed Community Center (2909 16th Street South) at 7:00 pm.

Staff circulated the schedule for review of the proposal along with a copy of the county board’s policy on supermarkets from 1985. County staff also compiled notes from the April 25 meeting.

Many views of the proposed development were displayed at the April 25 meeting. Here are several elevations:

Cleveland Street & 9th Road (2 views)
Barton Street & Columbia Pike (2 views)
9th Road
Adams Street

Other drawings from the plans give an idea of how big the development would look. Here are two of these massing studies:

Cleveland Street, Columbia Pike, Birds’ Eye View, and 9th Street
3 views from Columbia Pike; and the view from 9th Street

The Site Plan shows the building footprint.

Please note that the drawings shown here are artists’ views of what the project might look like. The specifics of the project are contained in the actual plans. A set of these is available at the Columbia Pike Library, and the adjacent civic associations have also received copies.

There are several places to discuss the proposed project and to comment on it.

• Discuss it on the arlington22204 yahoogroup.
• Discuss and comment on it through your civic association.
• You may direct questions to the developer’s lawyer Cathy Puskar at cpuskar@arl.thelandlawyers.com or to Arlington County planner Richard Tucker at rtucker@arlingtonva.us.
• And you may learn more and participate in discussions by attending any of the public meetings in the review cycle.