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SOURCE: ARLnow by Katie Taranto
Preparations to demolish the shuttered Ballston Macy’s have begun as several hundred apartments and an as-yet-unnamed grocery store are expected in 2028.
Interior work began last month at 685 N. Glebe Road, where general contractor John Moriarty & Associates hopes to receive a demolition permit “any day now” and, if all goes as expected, complete demolition by August.
The whole project — encompassing 553 new apartments, a 38,400-square-foot grocery store and 2,000 square feet of other retail — is expected to be complete within about three years, Moriarty representative Jed Clift told ARLnow.
“So far, it’s going great,” he said. “The demo permit in our hand is really what kicks everything off, so once we get that, then things are really going to start to move.”
Throughout demolition, the contractor plans to construct a pedestrian travel path with overhead protection on Wilson Blvd. The sidewalk next to the site on N. Glebe Road will remain closed during construction, but pedestrians will still be able to travel in the alley between Macy’s and Chipotle.
After demolition, workers are expected spend five months on excavation followed by construction.
Details are still up in the air on the planned grocery store, which Clift declined to comment on. Insight Property Group’s plans describe the future tenant as an “organic grocery store.”
Whole Foods, the prominent organic grocery chain owned by Amazon, has existing Arlington locations down Wilson Blvd in Clarendon and next to Amazon’s HQ2 in Pentagon City. It has also been expanding locally, with a new Falls Church location and a planned smaller-format store in Crystal City.
Macy’s closed last spring after 71 years in Ballston. The department store originally opened as Hecht’s in 1951 as part of the Parkington Shopping Center. At the time, it was the largest suburban shopping center on the East Coast.
