New Marumcso Shops Approved

WOODBRIDGE, Va. — New shops are coming to Marumsco Plaza as part of ongoing revitalization efforts in Woodbridge.

Prince William County Supervisors unanimously approved special use permits for a Walgreens Pharmacy, a Pollo Campero restaurant, and a new BB&T Bank that will be built at the shopping center. Each of the new buildings will have drive-through lanes, which were not permitted under current commercial zonings at the plaza.

The new shops will be built in the existing sprawling parking lot of Marumsco Plaza on U.S. 1. — a one-time shopping mecca that is undergoing a renovation. New construction of shops that will occupy the northern section of the shopping center’s parking lot is already underway.

Of the three newly approved shops, the restaurant will sit near the center of the parking lot, and the bank and pharmacy will sit closer to East Longview Drive, where an old Five Guys restaurant was located. The shops will join a locally-owned grocer Todos Supermarkets, which recently moved into to an old Giant Food location inside the plaza.

“We are all very excited about the revitalization of Marumsco Plaza in Woodbridge, its’ called a new Woodbridge,” said District Supervisor Frank Principi.

New improvements to the entrance of the shopping plaza are also coming. Developers will remove what some residents and officials referred to as a “gully” or deep groove in the pavement at the plaza’s East Longview Drive entrance. More capacity will also be added to East Longview Drive where it intersects with U.S. 1 and Prince William Parkway.

While planners and officials say the shopping center is on an upswing, neighbors urged its owners not to rest on their laurels.

“The revitalization of Marumsco Plaza can be a trend setter and the gold standard for North Woodbridge. We see numerous signs of activity along this stretch of Route 1, as well as improvements to Route 1 itself, and we encourage the owners of the plaza to set their sights high, and make the plaza one to be envied and copied as other properties are redeveloped,” said Woodbridge Potomac Communities Civic Association Chairman John Karhnak. “Don’t stop at ‘good enough’ or ‘that’s all that is required’ – make the plaza look like a place we and others will want to go and stay a while.”

A stretch of U.S. 1 between Mary’s Way to the Occoquan River will be widened from four to six lanes. Marumsco Plaza sits just outside the area identified for widening. Developers of the new shops proffered the land right-of-way for the future widening of the commuter highway in front of the shopping plaza.