Task Force Chief 'Confident' F.C. Center to Thrive

As the long-awaited unveiling of ambitious plans for the redevelopment of the City Center of Falls Church remains on hold, the city's volunteer task force established to launch process over a year ago was called to its first meeting since March last night.

It was a secret, behind-closed-doors gathering, and rumors in recent weeks have abounded that an impasse in negotiations between key city officials and the Akridge Group, selected to be "master developers" of the site, might prompt the sides to go their separate ways.

Still, Dr. Stephen Rogers, chair of the City Center Task Force, told the News-Press in an exclusive interview prior to last night's meeting, "I have never been more confident that we're going to have a beautiful city center, and a very unique one."

While Rogers could not disclose the agenda for last night's meeting, he said it would involve briefings by the city's negotiating team. He did not rule out that the Task Force would be asked to sign off on a new course of action.

The Falls Church City Council has already extended the deadline for finalizing Akridge's role in the development twice, and is on the verge of needing to do it for a third time.

The stall in negotiations, according to News-Press sources, has been over the price of land acquisition in the four square block downtown area in Falls Church that has been targeted for the redevelopment. Without a willingness by the city to use powers of eminent domain to forcibly accumulate land at "fair market value" from landowners in the area, the developers are claiming that the project will be financially untenable for them.

But with the city unwilling to go that route, it has nothing else to bring to the table except some modest parcels that it owns in the area. No offers of tax breaks or other incentives have yet been included in the deal-making process.

With a very full plate in the District of Columbia likely to get even more crowded with prospects generated by a new baseball stadium, D.C.-based Akridge's interest in a financially-risky Falls Church enterprise might be waning, News-Press sources suggest.

Already, Akridge has ended its involvement with The Spectrum, a large-scale mixed use project approved earlier this year in the 400 block of W. Broad. After winning the necessary "special exceptions" from the city to ensure the feasibility of the project, Akridge handed it over completely to Waterford Development, which built The Broadway in Falls Church.

Still, Rogers told the News-Press his confidence the City Center job will get done is higher than ever. "We never said it would be quick," he said. "It has to be unique, different from what's going up in other places. We will get it right."

While cautious not to reveal anything about specific negotiations, Rogers said he was at liberty to report that many developer groups from throughout the region have contacted him expressing interest in the City Center process, wanting to know more about its status.

"It took us a long time to get anyone interested in building in Falls Church," Rogers, a former vice-mayor of Falls Church who is also president of the Greater Falls Church Chamber of Commerce this year, "But now we're on everyone's radar screen."

Earlier this year, the News-Press reported that plans for one quadrant of the City Center project were near completion. That sector, on the south side of W. Broad between Maple Ave. and Annandale Road, was identified as the first to be redeveloped, with plans for a major supermarket, residential condos, structured parking and some retail. The reports included information that Whole Foods would be the supermarket moving in.

Rogers suggested that there is nothing in that report which would be altered by what is currently going on in negotiations.

Sources close to the process told the News-Press that while the city owns small parcels in the entire redevelopment area, and while Akridge owns nothing, there are others with development interests who own considerable amounts of land there. They might be more likely to commit their resources to get things done than Akridge, whose first burden would be to pay exorbitant prices to acquire property.