is on the move, but exactly when the dealership remains unclear.
Messages left with dealership management last week went unreturned, but a representative with Audi of Alexandria said over the phone that the dealership would move sometime in 2013.
A rendering of the dealership’s new Columbia Pike facility is currently on display in the showroom.
The impending move has set off discussion of what is to become of the site at 1704 Mt. Vernon Ave. The issue recently came up at a meeting community groups had with the Alexandria Economic Development Partnership.
“All parties realize that we do not control the property. We are currently reaching out to the owners of the land, Four Mile Run Associates, LLC, to see what they have planned," AEDP Senior Vice President Stephanie Landrum wrote in an email to Patch. "In the meantime, the business and civic community is giving us good input on what they would like to see, should the site become available for a use other than automotive.”
Landrum said her office is reaching out to some retailers to gauge their interest and is arranging visits to Del Ray.
Pat Miller, an officer with both the Del Ray Citizens Association and the Del Ray Business Association, sat in on the meeting with AEDP and said she understood the dealership's move is contingent on the new Arlington County location being completed.
"People that have driven by there say not too much is happening," Miller wrote in an email.
Would you like to see the site become something other than an automotive dealership? If so, what? Tell us in the comments.
For more business covergae, "like" Del Ray Patch on Facebook and follow @delraypatch on Twitter.
At best, I expect an eventual wrapped parking garage like the approved 5 story apartment building next to the closed Gold Crust/soon-to-be M.E. Swing's Coffee Roasters. (garage is above ground but is completely wrapped by apartments so invisible from the street). My money though is on something more like the Pork Barrel BBQ/Sierra Club building. Surface parking lot in back, restaurants or shops on ground floor, and offices above.
I wrote this story this week because there have been some meetings where the site has been brought up.
If I were betting on it, however, I would bet that it will be a different car dealership.
Do you have a better location? If so, where? (helps if it is a city-owned property like the current location). I would hate for it to be, say, at GW Middle School. Most people walk, there's tons of on and off-street parking in the area if you aren't too lazy to walk a couple of blocks and enjoy the Saturday morning. Out-of-season? Makes no sense. Yes - vendors do sell tomatoes. And several varieties of peaches, nectarines, meat, watermelons, fresh cut flowers, cheese, yogurt, beans, squash, baked goods, saltenas (though I've missed the lady passed few times, is Marcela's still selling saltenas?), etc etc.
GW would be far superior. It would provide parking, a stop on the new trolley's route, and metro-ability, as well as simplify the schedules of families that have children in athletics there or at Simpson field. The space is huge and could accomodate all sorts of new vendors. The saltenas stopped being sold ages ago. Probably because they realized the market was too small and insular. Again, the current directors lack vision if what's there now is what the Del Ray Farmer's Market always will be.