Manassas Park celebrates new city hall, downtown

The Manassas Park Community Came together on Saturday to celebrate the city’s new town hall and the makings of a new downtown.

Members of the city’s Governing Body and Virginia Delegate Danica Roem (D) welcomed hundreds of attendees to the celebration that began at 11 a.m.

The new building at 1 Park Center Court will replace the existing city hall building and house the city’s library and a Jirani Coffeehouse. The milestone comes after years of discussion about transforming the city from a city of single-family homes into a downtown, providing residents a place to gather, shop, and dine without leaving their hometown.

Planning for the city’s downtown began more than five years ago. “It’s a plan that will take our city into the next decade and beyond. It’s a plan that does not depend on the status quo,” said Mayor Jeanette Rishell.

The development is a public-private partnership between the city and private developer Norton Scott, which has borne the initial cost of the development, allowing the cash-strapped city an opportunity to create a new destination for businesses and residents in hopes of increasing tax revenue.

In the late aughts, at the onset of the financial crisis, the city invested heavily into new public facilities, like a community center and police station, plunging the city into debt, from which it is still trying to emerge. Despite its best efforts to attract retail businesses to the City Center development across from city hall, its street-level retail shops have remained empty for over 10 years.

“The city’s economic incentives weren’t working,” added Rishell. “This project corrects shortcomings downtown has had for some time.

The new city hall is located next to the Manassas Park Virginia Railway Express Station and will also house the city’s library. In addition, a newly created village has  36,000-square-foot public plaza with public programming on weekends and evenings, a splash pad for warm days, and will have restaurants, and 300 townhome condominiums.

A movie theater will be the anchor tenant of the new plaza. On May 17, the city’s Governing Body unanimously approved changes to the agreement allowing Cafe Cinema to build a standalone movie house and a three-story office annex next door.

When the plan was approved in January, the offices were originally going to be built over the movie theater.

Following a ribbon-cutting ceremony, an event called “Shop the Park” will be held to encourage residents to come out and support local restaurants that have been negatively affected due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Due to inclement weather, the shopping festival ended early.