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Issue 51: 16 Years Ago: Board Approves Dulles Town Center
 | The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors approved the county's first regional mall, Dulles Town Center, 16 years ago, on December 17, 1991. The project had already been in the works for many years, as the Lerner Corporation had begun acquiring land at the intersection of Routes 7 and 28 for a regional mall in the early 1970s. |
On November 23, 1987, the Board had approved an amendment to the Eastern Loudoun Area Management Plan and a rezoning to allow the shopping center, which was then known as the Windmill Mall.
However, over the next few years, the developer requested a number of changes to the project, including higher building density and alterations to the road network. These changes required the county’s approval, which came on December 17, 1991, when the Board gave the necessary land use approvals for the project.
Plans called for Dulles Town Center, billed as eastern Loudoun’s new “downtown,” to include residential units and office buildings as well as the 1.2 million square-foot shopping mall. The shopping mall was to cover 110 acres of the 554-acre project. Lerner officials said they anticipated that the entire project would take 10-15 years to complete, but that the company hoped to open the mall by 1993.
However, the project was slowed by the economic recession of the early 1990s. In May 1994, Lerner announced Hecht’s, Sears, and JC Penney had signed on as anchors, with 150 other shops planned at the mall. It was reported at that time that road construction for the project had begun.
Still, there was little visible progress on the project until September 1997, when the Board of Supervisors approved the establishment of a community development authority to help finance the project’s infrastructure through the sale of tax-exempt bonds. Later that week, site work began and Lerner announced that Lord & Taylor had joined the other three anchors, with Nordstrom expected to sign on after the mall opening.
Official groundbreaking ceremonies were held in April 1998, and the first two stores – Hecht’s and Lord & Taylor – opened in November 1998 – just in time for the holiday shopping season. The mall opened its doors the following April with about 35 tenants, and Loudoun County celebrated the official grand opening of its first regional mall in August 1999.
Sources: Loudoun Times-Mirror, Eastern Loudoun Times, Leesburg Today,
Sun Gazette, Washington Post, Loudoun Easterner
Board of Supervisors meeting minutes
Image: Dulles Town Center main entrance, 2001, photo by Jim Barnes
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