Edens & Avant breaks ground on new mixed-use project

Columbia, S.C. Shopping center developer Edens & Avant said Tuesday it has broken ground on Mosaic, a 31-acre urban mixed-use development in Merrifield, Va.

The project is part of a long-term revitalization of key areas in Fairfax County, championed by Congressman Gerald E. Connolly. "We knew the area was under-served and ripe for smart growth redevelopment," said Connolly. "This town center is the key to the future of Merrifield, and the transformative urban revitalization that the community envisioned is now underway."

Jodie McLean, president and chief investment officer for Edens & Avant, said, "As a company, we are energized to be a part of the revitalization of this district in Fairfax County. We view our project as the ember of a much larger urban plan that will be the catalyst of economic and community development for a much larger district."

Opening in fall 2012, the first phase of the 1.9 million-sq.-ft. project is more than two-thirds leased and includes a mix of 400,000 sq. ft. of both national and local retailers, an eight-screen art house cinema, 150-room boutique hotel, 60,000 sq. ft. of Class A office space, and 114 urban town homes.

Mosaic is the urban transformation of a property that has historically been defined by a drive-in theater and then most recently a multiplex cinema and a sprawling parking lot. The first phase of retail will be inclusive of national retailers missing from the community, as well as some of the Washington Area's favorite establishments.  

Mosaic is participating in the U.S. Green Building Council's pilot program for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Neighborhood Development. The LEED-ND Rating System integrates the principles of smart growth, urbanism and green building into the first national system for neighborhood design.