Hoagie haven: First Fairfax Wawa approved

Fairfax County, your Wawa is calling.

The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved the Peterson Cos.’ plans for its Dulles Discovery South retail center, to include a 5,500-square-foot Wawa, a 4,900-square-foot Chick-fil-A, a 12,000-square-foot Primrose child care center and a 4,000-square-foot bank.

Taylor Chess, Peterson’s senior vice president for retail, said the firm is excited that the zoning was approved and that the Dulles Discovery office tenants will soon have much-needed services within walking distance. A timetable for the center’s construction or delivery was not immediately available.

The 6.36-acre retail site is adjacent to the 2.4 million-square-foot Dulles Discovery North and South secure office complexes, and just east of the Smithsonian Institution’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. The CIA is among the Dulles Discovery tenants, meaning there was no way to incorporate the retail into the existing buildings.

The Wawa will be Fairfax County’s first for the chain, which has, to this point, avoided the Northern Virginia suburbs outside of Prince William County. In February 2012, the Washington Business Journal reported that Wawa was“looking to fill out the D.C. and Baltimore corridor, both in Northern Virginia and Maryland.”

It has since proposed two new stores for the area, one in Fairfax and the other in Loudoun. Wawa also operates outposts in Capitol Heights, Beltsville and Upper Marlboro.

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