A Suburban Wasteland in Virginia Gets a Modern Urban Feel

By ALISON M. RICE

Published: December 18, 2012

MERRIFIELD, Va. — To see Merrifield, Va., today, with its sleek white Target, its narrow 1920s-style streetscape of specialty food shops along Glass Alley and the rest of the $542 million mixed-use Mosaic District is to nearly forget this unincorporated area’s former life as an uninviting industrial suburban crossroads……

The company behind the latest stage in Merrifield’s evolution is Edens, a private retail developer based in Columbia, S.C., that owns more than 130 shopping centers. “This was the right project, in the right place, at the right time, by the right developer,” said Barbara Byron, director of Fairfax County’s Office of Community Revitalization. “The vision that they presented was exactly what the county was looking for as the Merrifield Town Center.”

Read the full article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/19/realestate/commercial/a-suburban-wasteland-in-virginia-gets-a-modern-urban-feel.html?emc=eta1&_r=0