Target to renovate Springfield, Fair Lakes stores with ‘Fun101’ concept
Highbrook Investors provides new details about its plans for Chantilly data centers
Welcome to Fairfax Real Estate Insider, providing can’t-miss insights about what’s being built, bought, and bulldozed in Fairfax County. We keep real estate professionals ahead of industry trends and the news that matters most to their clients. Send news tips to austinbwright@gmail.com
Programming note: It’s a short edition this week, as I was on a backpacking trip that cut into my reporting time. Here’s the best pic I got on the trip–a chipmunk along Jeremy’s Run in Shenandoah National Park:
Now, the news:
Commercial Real Estate
Target to renovate Springfield, Fair Lakes stores with experiential “Fun101” concept
Target is renovating its Springfield Town Center and Fair Lakes locations to align with “Fun101,” part of new CEO Michael Fiddelke’s multi-year plan to refresh stores nationwide. Electrical permits show the company is installing new lighting and receptacles at both Fairfax County locations to support the rollout of Fun101, which Target describes as a reset of its hardlines business emphasizing “sports, pop culture, toys and trading cards” with expanded shops-in-shops and enhanced licensing assortment.
Target SVP Cassandra Jones said in a LinkedIn video the concept is “now outpacing total company sales growth and driving stronger traffic trends.” That’s a meaningful claim for the landlords watching this closely: Springfield Town Center and Fair Lakes are both malls under active repositioning pressure, and a Target anchor that’s generating above-average traffic is a different asset than one that’s treading water. Target spokeswoman Enoma Owens declined to comment on plans for specific stores.
Target joining Dick’s and Meta in betting on physical experience as a traffic driver suggests the experiential retail wave has moved well beyond entertainment venues and into the core of everyday retail.
Scout Space to open Merrifield office supporting 31 new jobs
Scout Space, a Reston-based satellite software company, will spend $1 million to open a 2,650-square-foot office and manufacturing facility in Merrifield, adding 31 jobs, Governor Abigail Spanberger announced Tuesday. Scout Space CEO Josiah Gruber cited Fairfax County’s talent and innovation environment as driving the expansion, which he said “reflects both the increasing demand for advanced space domain awareness capabilities and our commitment to building the technologies that enable safer, more dynamic operations in orbit.”
FFX Now reported the new facility will be located on Dorr Avenue in a still-industrial area south of the Dunn Loring Metro station. Scout Space, founded in 2019, has received support from the Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation including early-stage commercialization and seed funding.
Data Center Watch
Highbrook Investors provides new details about its plans for Chantilly data centers
A $266 million private equity fund managed by Highbrook Investors has filed paperwork revealing plans for a multi-building campus across two adjacent sites in Chantilly: 17490 Flint Lee Road and 14900 Bogle Drive, just northeast of the Cub Run Rec Center and Westfield High School. The sites have already been approved for data center development. Renderings show two two-story data centers set to be built on Bogle Drive and at least one more across Stonecroft Boulevard–a multi-parcel buildout consistent with the hyperscale campus model now common in Loudoun County. The renderings include security fencing designed to preserve existing trees.
Highbrook in March announced the $266 million data center fund, which targets Northern Virginia. The company, which has U.S. offices in New York City and West Palm Beach, owns 11 NOVA assets totaling 719,386 square feet, per its website. Its data center fund already has 300 megawatts of contracted utility power, with substation equipment on order, according to the March announcement. Highbrook’s lead developer will be Centra, a data center builder focused on projects in Northern Virginia and Richmond. Centra is led by David Wagner, a Highbrook alum, and Brian Tanner, who oversaw data center development at Amazon Web Services from 2010 to 2017 and at Microsoft from 2018 to 2020.
Highbrook and Centra did not respond to requests for comment.
Leaderboards
Covers 6/1 - 6/7 | Data from Redfin
Top Sales by Price
Price: $8,495,000
Listed by Jenna Gallant of TTR Sotheby’s
Bought with Nicholas Veizaga of Engel & Volkers
Price: $5,328,292
Listed by Dianne Van Volkenburg of Compass
Bought with Raju Alluri of Alluri Realty
Price: $4,808,686
Listed by Steve Watson and Sam Trump of KW Metro Center
Buyer’s agent unknown
Price: $4,100,000
Listed by Pascale Karam of Long & Foster
Bought with Pascale Karam of Long & Foster
Price: $3,850,000
Listed by Laurie Mensing of Long & Foster
Bought with Colleen Flynn of Property Collective
Top Sales by Price Per Square Foot
Price: $8,495,000
Sf: 11,471
Listed by Jenna Gallant of TTR Sotheby’s
Bought with Nicholas Veizaga of Engel & Volkers
Price: $680,000
Sf: 980
Listed by Lisa Young of Pearson Smith Realty
Bought with Jennie Park of Livewell Realty
Price: $708,500
Sf: 1,033
Listed by Donald Hermann of Classic Realty
Bought with Carolyn Young and Gage Cole of Samson Properties
Price: $880,000
Sf: 1,356
Listed by Judy McGuire of Long & Foster
Bought with Candyce Astroth of Samson Properties
Price: $1,200,000
Sf: 1,886
Listed by Hoon Kim
Buyer’s agent unknown