Manassas Park redevelopment: Conner House — city’s only historic property — on chopping block

The landscape of Manassas Park will change as the area around city hall is redeveloped in an effort to attract more people and businesses to the area.

Manassas Park City Manager Laszlo Palko tonight reveals the City’s plans for development in phases three and four at a 7 o’clock public meeting

Potomac Local News recently reported some of those changes with the VRE parking garage as well as a new library, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Here are six ways the neighborhood would change with the development.

Conner House — a historical landmark — is on the chopping block

Nearly 160 years ago, the historical Conner House served as the headquarters for Confederate Army General Joseph E. Johnston. The house served as a hospital during the Battle of Bull Run. Throughout the entire Civil War, the house also served as a camp.

Prior to the Civil War, the house was originally owned by one of the first families, the Hooe family, to emigrate to Prince William County in the 18th century. The house was most likely assembled by slave labor. Today, it sits on Conner Drive behind Osbourn Park High School.

Manassas Park Mayor Jeanette Rishell tells Potomac Local News:

We all know that the Stone House is in very bad structural condition. It will fall down eventually, and that might be sooner if a strong storm hits the area.

The Governing body knows that restoration work is very expensive, and could be a million dollars or more to get that house to where it needs to be. The City just cannot afford to fix all those problems. And if it actually falls down prematurely, then the City would have to use taxpayer dollars to remove the rubble.

So the Governing Body was of a strong consensus that the structure not be a consideration when deciding whether or not to have commercial development on that land.

Over the years, there have been multiple attempts to restore the house, which is one of the more than 95,0000 properties across the U.S. listed on the National Registry of Historic Places.

“The Conner House is the only historic physical building in the City of Manassas Park and is an important part of the Cities culture and founding. I would ask that the city elected leadership reconsider this reckless decision,” wrote Michael Carrera, who hopes to reclaim his seat on the city’s Governing Body in the November 3 election.

City Hall is more than meets the eye

The current city hall would be demolished in the development of phase three, but a new city hall will be built further down Manassas Drive.

In the same building below the Hall will be retail space, a coffee shop, as well as the new Library which will cover two stories. The voter registrar’s office will also be on the ground level while the offices, meeting rooms, and chambers for the city will be on the top floor.

A Public Space

The designs in plans for phase three call for the laying of a city square or public plaza. Originally designed to be 30,000 square feet, the plaza will now be 35,000 square feet and has been moved from a previous position and now lies next to the new city hall.

The city plans to hold public events such as concerts and festivals in this plaza and will be kept by the parks and recreation department.

The centerpiece is also the anchor

The anchor of the development will be a nine-screen theater designed to bring people to the new downtown development. The hope is that by having the theater there will also be spillover business that would be valuable to the retail outlets that the city hopes to attract to the new development.

The later development of Phase Four will focus on traffic and parking that will supplement not just phase three but also to try and give City Center — the first phase of this development built more than 10 years ago, which includes apartments and mostly empty retail stores across the street from city hall — a second chance to bloom.

Phase four Parking

Officials know there’s a need for more parking in the area if the development is going to be a success. That’s why there is a 150-space parking lot across from the included in the development. The lot that would not only be used by retail businesses in phase four development, but also as supplemental parking for phase three. It would also give much-needed parking capacity to City Center.

Connor Drive Expansion

A main focus of Phase Four will be an extension of Connor Drive so that it’ll meet with Manassas Drive. The reasoning is to get traffic to move more smoothly through the new development as well as having another way to access Route 28 instead of using Manassas Drive or Bloom’s Quarry Road.

The public meeting for the Downtown Development will be held at City Hall, located at 1 Park Center Court. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, the public is encouraged to attend virtually through the city’s Facebook and YouTube pages.