|
- |
People living along Cowan Boulevard or working at Mary Washington Hospital will soon have nearby places to eat, get a haircut or do banking without having to drive into Central Park.
MediCorp Properties and Virginia Properties are putting the finishing touches on two projects along Cowan near where the road intersects with Hospital Drive. They should be ready for tenants by mid-October.
Cowan Center, the larger of the two, is a U-shaped cluster of three buildings facing the Residences at Belmont. It's designed as retail and professional office space, said Donn Hart, co-owner of Virginia Properties and co-developer of the projects with MediCorp Properties.
Tenants so far are a branch of Alliance Bank, a 10-year-old bank based in Chantilly; Royal Hair Salon, a second location for Royal Hair Studio in The Sport and Health Club; and Basilico Italian Market/New York Deli. Basilico is a new venture for Vinny Vitale, who owns the Vinny's Italian Grill & Pizzeria in Gateway Village Shopping Center.
"We're currently talking to some medical professionals who might like to locate in that space, and we have other restaurants and services that we're hoping to bring in," Hart said.
The other project is Cowan Plaza, a two-story, 15,070-square-foot building with four units for medical or general office use. It's located at Cowan Boulevard and Hospital Drive.
People will be able to access the adjoining projects from an entrance that will be built on Cowan and from Care Way, which loops through part of the Mary Washington Hospital 70-acre campus.
Virginia Properties and MediCorp recently completed another project on the campus, the 30,000-square-foot Bunker Hill office building at 1201 Hospital Drive. Kaiser Permanente, the sixth-largest health-insurance company, has leased that building and will open a medical center there Jan. 5.
MediCorp eventually plans to develop more of the land around the hospital as need arises, said spokeswoman Kathleen Allenbaugh.
"This campus was purchased, and everything's designed, to be future-focused with idea that health care is constantly changing," she said. "In 1993 when the hospital opened here, we knew there would be technology that we would add in the future."
Cathy Jett: 540/374-5407
Email: cjett@freelancestar.com
