Plans to spruce up town center in the works
By Claire Compton
With warming temperatures around the corner, Reston Town Center is taking the opportunity to install a new ice-skating rink to replace the 18-year-old one under the pavilion.The process will take place from late March to early May, finishing up just in time for the summer concert series.
After that is completed, management will look at other ways to reinvigorate the face of Reston Town Center's core with a little remodeling and landscaping.
Kathy Hannon, now two-and-a-half months into her position as general manager of Reston Town Center's originial core for Cassidy & Pinkard, envisions an even more pedestrian friendly town center core than exists today.
That would include additional outdoor seating and a remodeling of the breezeway behind the fountain, opposite the pavilion.
“Right now there's landscaping with curbing that you can't walk through. We'll leave the wonderful trees with some patio seating, umbrellas and new lighting,” she said.
A Potbelly restaurant will be going in at the corner of that breezeway, currently housing Edibles Incredible and a dry cleaners. Those two businesses will remain in the town center but move “further back,” Hannon said.
Hannon joined Cassidy & Pinkard after leaving her job as general manager of Tysons Corner Center. She began as an assistant manager at Tysons in 1997 after moving from Dallas. The move to town center afforded Hannon a more relaxed pace of work.
“I decided I was looking for a change of lifestyle ... a change of stress level and a new opportunity to make an impact on a new property,” she said.
The core of the town center has a few other vacancies that are looking for tenants, Hannon said, although no leases have been signed. One of those spaces is where PR at Partners used to be, next to the movie theater. The hair salon moved to a larger space on the other side of the theater.
Hannon said she would like to see additional fashion retail, but right now the focus remains on the common areas.
Several restaurants and stores will be opening in the coming year in the Boston Properties development known as Sout of Market. Hannon said she works with those property managers on a regular basis to balance the mixed use of the town center.
“[Collaboration] is really important because the customer looks at Reston Town Center as one entity; they don't realize it's several different ownerships. I think we really complement each other and we're working on ways to market it and work together,” she said.
Hannon, who said she's been enjoying herself in the new job, has been thrilled with the opportunities the town center has to partner with civic groups.
“There's a wonderful community theme here that we're just going to expand on,” she said.