[forklift]

Stopped by this morning and Charlie was there working on a lift. Place is sweeet. and huge and ........parking.

On the way in I noticed their brand new sign was dinged up. I figured it was a construction truck backing up but he said they have it on camera - drunk came in and hit it but no plates. And then drove around the building - and then came back 20 mins later and looked at the sign and drove around the building again.

Lots of inventory there for sales but not sure when they are moving the repair/mod stuff over and will start. Not before Sebring anyway.

[jhsmith]

I'm dreading the move. I've enjoyed living 3 miles from the old shop for the past decade. Now I'll have to put my race car on a trailer to take it there instead of just driving it and hoping nobody notices the lack of plates (just kidding ).

[JmuRiz]

I know, so many of the good shops that used to be close the the beltway (or inside) have had to move out due to property costs

[Vicegrip]

The area of the old shop is near the Spring hill metro. The land values are inversely proportional to the distance from a silver line metro stop. I consult for 3 dealerships and a body shop all in eyesight of Spring hill and have watched the long slow motion development of this area from initial concept public meetings to now. The though was to increase living space in order to reduce car traffic. No additional parking was part of it but all the condos are being built with vast parking lots under them. The idea of using public transpo was quickly quashed by the builders. Traffic has only increased as people not only come and go for work but come and go for pleasure as do their friends. I have watched people drive from the condo on one side of Rt7 to the Walmart on the other side of Rt7.

The only thing keeping most existing businesses in place around the stations is long term leases. Lease is up, the building goes down, a massive hole is dug for the magic cars that don't add to the traffic and something bigger and better goes up.

Building an automotive repair and sales shop from scratch in FFC is not small feat. 1284 gates of reg and permit hell give or take. Kudos to the Intersport crew for getting it done and having it in hand.

[Dandelion]

We just moved our 300+ person office from Herndon to Tysons - so glad to be doing my part to make Tyson's traffic horrible.

ed

[BlackTalon]

Originally Posted by Vicegrip

I have watched people drive from the condo on one side of Rt7 to the Walmart on the other side of Rt7.

Of course they drive. How else are you going to get massive shopping carts full of stuff back home? Shopping cart piled up like Santa's sleigh, with you looking like a homeless person wheeling it slowly across a 30 lane road?

[Vicegrip]

More like a premade salad and a bottle or water.

[Dandelion]

Smashburger is pretty good over there - even the grilled chicken sammich.

ed

[Vicegrip]

Originally Posted by Dandelion

We just moved our 300+ person office from Herndon to Tysons - so glad to be doing my part to make Tyson's traffic horrible.

ed

Funny thing. At the planning meetings oh so long ago the county folks were talking about breaking up the 9 to 5 office hours type rush hour traffic and lack of night life. Seems that back then Tysons went dark at 5:30 for the most part. Lack of food stores and even restaurants along rt 7 and many other aspects of a bunch of office buildings and little else. They then started griping about the "car lots" on the western end. EXqueeze me? You mean the ones that just got a $100+ mil update and employ over 450 people of all levels and time frames from 4:30 am to midnight? Those? The ones that have time frames and worker profiles you were just advocating for? The planners all had a vision that the dealerships were dirty trailers and guys in cheap ties. took a tour to convince them that not all of the dealerships were the same...

Well they fixed the am and pm rush hour traffic issue. Now it is a pedestrian and bike unfriendly fustercluck all the time. All the aspects that were intended to make the rt7 corridor more livable were red lined. Metro underground? Nope. it is sitting in the middle and the road bed is where the ped and bike lanes were to be.* Restricted car increases? Nope, every new building is car-centric with lots of parking and businesses that attract incoming traffic. Yes there is a lot more living space and places to go that are not cube farms but it all increased traffic. .

*they messed up in planning and had to tunnel 1/3 of it anyway eating up any of the savings of the above ground build. Seems they planners missed the little detail of how steep a grade a Metro train can climb. Planned the whole thing to approval with a section at too steep a grade. Now we have a mixed system that will cost far more in maintenance costs over the lifespan than the original underground plan. Worst of both and more expensive.

[BlackTalon]

Fairfax successfully drove many car sealers 'out west' a dozen or so years back. Seems cities/ counties like to pretend businesses are not needed to support people.