The new 'Koreatown'?
By Layla Wilder
Attracted by the schools, businesses and lower housing prices, Northern Virginia's Korean-American population is migrating towards Centreville – an area now rivaling Annandale for its "Koreatown" moniker.Centreville – a growing hub for a variety of ethnic groups – is Fairfax County's “last frontier,” located in the west and bordering Prince William and Loudoun counties.
When Annandale became known as the Washington metropolitan area's Koreatown, Centreville was still largely undeveloped. But there are now a lot of reasons for it to attract Korean Americans, including its affordable homes for first-time buyers and its proximity to Washington Dulles International Airport, said Korean real estate agent and Centreville resident UI Kyong Chung.
According to U.S Census figures from 2000, 66,000 Korean Americans live in the Washington D.C. area. More than 15 percent of the people in Centreville were Asians, according to the data, but that was before much of the migration began.
Sully District Supervisor Michael Frey (R) attributes the Korean migration in the late 1990s and early 2000s to a combination of factors, including cheaper housing. “Relative to the rest of the county, houses were still affordable here then,” Frey said.
As a few people moved out, others followed, said Frey, who has been Sully's supervisor for 16 years.
Today, the quality of the schools and the many Korean churches and businesses in the western part of the county continue to fuel the Korean migration west, said Sen. Chap Petersen (D-Annandale), who has a Korean-American wife and whose election to office was helped by a large number of Korean votes.
"People see future possibilities there and are following their relatives, friends, and shopping centers," said Jim Kim, a reporter with The Korean Entertainment Weekly.
Although it's difficult to count the Korean population in Centreville, according to staff at the county's demographics office, their businesses are common throughout the area and their faces plentiful in the Sully District schools.
About 25 percent of the population at Centreville High School is currently Asian, according to Mike Campbell, principal.
“We expect to see that number rise over the next few years,” said Campbell, noting the advent of the Korean Central Presbyterian Church as a future draw to the area.
In 2006, the Korean Central Presbyterian Church won a hard-fought battle to construct a 205,000-square-foot building on about 80 acres off of Lee Highway for its swelling membership. Their congregation – one of the largest Korean congregations in Northern Virginia – anticipates a move in a couple of years.
The many Korean churches in Centreville are evidence of the population there, said Joseph Ahn, pastor of New Creation Church on Lee Highway. Other churches in Centreville include the Korean Church of Vision and Love, and Young Saeng Korean Presbyterian Church. Koreans like to attend good churches, and Ahn said he thinks the churches will continue to grow.
Annandale remains Virginia's premier location for Koreans with hundreds of businesses catering to those immigrants, but Chung said more and more business people "are eying Centreville."
Centreville's Korean-owned Grand Mart grocery store, bakeries and medical offices are already known throughout the globe, according to Patrick Lee, president of the Korean American Scholarship Foundation.
Spa World, a new spa at the Grand Plaza Shopping Center catering to Korean Americans, has already attracted hundreds of Koreans since it opened late last month, according to planning manager Brandon Bae.
Diversity in the community is "demographically very apparent and I hope that all our cultures can continue to work together to ensure that the Centreville community doesn't split apart," Carol Hawn said.
Hawn, a long-time Centreville resident active in the area's land use process, said someone needs to take responsibility to ensure all ethnic groups in western Fairfax County learn how to communicate about common problems and issues.
"One of the reasons they come in the first place is to get into mainstream America, but where there are more Koreans, they lack a motivation integrate," she said.
Petersen, a former member of the Fairfax City Council, agreed, saying that he “thinks it is important that people don't isolate themselves.”
However, the second and third generations of Korean immigrant families “usually integrate pretty easily,” Peterson said.
Frey, calling the diversity in Centreville “fun,” said Korean members of the community have been doing an increasingly better job of integrating with the rest of the Centreville community.
“It's just something that will take time,” he said.