Something is happening at the long-dormant Aquia Town Center site, though it’s not what residents have been promised.
The Stafford County Board of Supervisors unanimously condemned five acres of undeveloped land on the once-thriving shopping center for a new fire station.
The new station will replace existing fire station nine, one of the busiest in the county. The newer, more significant station will continue to allow fire and rescue crews to provide more services to the growing northern section of the county and along Interstate 95, where E-ZPass toll lanes were extended this fall.
“This project has been a source of anxiety because the land was not being used as a good for the community,” said Aquia District Supervisor Monica Gary.
The county property assessor states the condemned land is worth about $2.2 million. It’s part of an overall 25-acre plot of land where a grocery store, pharmacy, big-box store, and movie theater once stood.
Baltimore-based Mosiac Realty Partners purchased the property for $6.1 million in 2015, hoping to lure a grocery store to serve as an anchor tenant. The deal fell through, as did Mosaic’s efforts to get the county to extend tax breaks to the property.
Still, residents and county leaders have remained hopeful a new shopping center would replace the old one demolished in 2007.
County officials said it has been negotiating with Mosaic since September 2023 to purchase the property. However, the two could not reach an agreement.
The Company 9 Fire and Rescue sits on a half-acre at 1001 Washington Drive. The sheet metal building opened in 1991.
County officials said a study conducted by fire and rescue found the building needs to be replaced due to its small size and age. The study also indicated the station sits in one the busiest corridors in the county, and building a replacement anywhere more than a half-mile from the existing station nine would hamper 911 call response times.
“We’re glossing over this, but we’ve been working on a new fire station since 2020,” said Rock Hill District Supervisor Crystal Vanuch.
During a meeting with members of the Stafford County GOP, Aquia District Supervisor Monica Gary said the owners of Aquia Town Center asked her about the prospect of the county purchasing the failed shopping center.
Gary said the county should buy the 27-acre property.
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Stafford County Supervisor Monica Gary suggested taxpayers purchase Aquia Town Center, essentially a dirt field, the site of a formerly successful shopping plaza.
During a board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday, November 15, 2022, Gary, representing the Aquia District, said the county should build a fire station on land that once had a 200,000-square-foot shopping center.
