Many stores at Tysons Corner Center are making upgrades, and the owners of the property are doing the same.
In the past year, retailers at Tysons Corner Center have spent more than $65 million in upgrades and enhancements. Property owner Macerich has also put its money where its mouth is, spending almost $45 million on improvements to the common areas of the shopping center.
“It’s multifaceted over here,” says Jesse Benites, the director of property management at Tysons Corner Center.
All three of the center’s anchor stores have made significant improvements over the past year, Benites says. In Bloomingdale’s, “Everything from cosmetics to the handbags, really — that whole store has been transformed. Same thing goes with Nordstrom and Macy’s as well.”
Other major retailers with recent or forthcoming improvements include Apple, which has moved to a new spot in the center and expanded, and Lululemon, which has doubled its size. Warby Parker and Lenkersdorfer have both completed expansions as well.
Meanwhile, in the common areas, “the change is immense,” Benites says, with improvements to the furniture, fixtures, and equipment as well as an expanded arts program. Murals and sculptures abound in and around the center, done in partnership with Fairfax County Public Schools, George Mason University, and other partners. One especially visible piece of art is the mural on the side of a pedestrian bridge that crosses I-495.
Parking garages are getting new signage and paint, to make the center more enticing from the moment potential shoppers approach. “Folks coming on to the project, they’re going to experience some of those things as they walk in,” Benites says. “We continue to pursue an improved curb appeal.”
Benites adds that there are more than 35 projects happening at the center this year. “It’s quite a bit, to say the least,” he says. He’s been at Tysons Corner Center for two years, and “We still have a lot of work to do, but the amount of change that I’ve seen here at the center has been staggering.”
Feature image courtesy Tysons Corner Center
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