Care Bear Cleaners and the Subway restaurant in the 400 block of E. Braddock Road will close next week as the shopping center prepares for a redevelopment project that was approved by City Council more than a year ago.

Both the cleaners and the restaurant will close at the end of Tuesday. The last day for drop-off service at Care Bear Cleaners is Friday. All items must be picked up on or before the last day of service.

A manager at the 7-Eleven in the retail strip said there are no immediate plans to close the convenience store as the center prepares for demolition and construction.

Not Just Hair, which occupies the storefront between 7-Eleven and Subway, will close at the end of business on Saturday. It will move to a temporary shared space on King Street.  

A sign posted on the door of the Subway says the restaurant will reopen when the construction of a new building is completed.

A handwritten sign at Care Bare Cleaners says ownership hopes to reopen the business at the new building once it’s completed. 

The redevelopment project is an assemblage between Jason Yates, who owns the nearby automotive repair ship, and the Southland Corporation (owners of 7-Eleven). The project included the purchase of a small piece of city-owned property at the corner of Braddock Road and Mt. Vernon Avenue.

The concept plan approved in June of 2011—dubbed "Yates Corner"—described a mixed-use development for commercial use “consisting of a free-standing 3,000 square-foot 7-Eleven building on the east end of the site; an 18,000 square-foot two-story retail/office/auto service building on the west part of the site; and a two-level parking structure (one level below grade) behind the buildings with a small surface parking lot between the two buildings.”

The buildings will have visual coherence with other nearby buildings, including George Washington Middle School.

The first floor of two-story building will accommodate retail and restaurant uses, while the second floor will be office space.

Yates Automotive currently uses part of the block for vehicle storage. Under the proposal, Yates will still store vehicles in the rear of the new two-story building.

Along with the two new structures, a “circular-shaped pedestrian plaza” with landscaping at the corner of Braddock Road and Mt. Vernon Avenue was part of the approved proposal.