Dulles Town Center

For the census-designated place, see Dulles Town Center, Virginia.

Dulles Town Center is a two-level enclosed shopping mall in Sterling in Loudoun County, Virginia. It is located five miles (8.0 km) north of Washington Dulles International Airport. It is part of the Dulles Town Center census-designated place for population statistical purposes.

Dulles Town Center

Location	Dulles, Virginia, U.S.
Coordinates	39°1′55.7″N 77°25′25.8″W
Opening date	August 12, 1999; 25 years ago (August 12, 1999)
Developer	Lerner Enterprises, Cigna
Owner	Srinivas Chavali
No. of stores and services	150
No. of anchor tenants	6 (3 vacant)
Total retail floor area	1,400,000 square feet (130,000 m2)
No. of floors	2
Website	shopdullestowncenter.com

It encompasses 1,400,000 square feet (130,000 m²) of gross leasable area and is the sole enclosed shopping center in Loudoun County. The mall serves a wide geographic area, drawing customers from Loudoun, Fairfax, Clarke, and Frederick counties in Virginia, as well as Jefferson County, West Virginia.

History

In December 1987, Loudoun County officials approved the jurisdiction's first regional shopping mall, to be developed in a joint venture between Lerner Enterprises and Cigna. The mall was originally planned to be named the "Windmill Regional Shopping Center" but took its present name a year later.^[1]

Construction did not commence until years later, due to the nationwide recession. It was eventually scheduled to begin construction in spring 1994, with a planned opening date of 1996,^[2] but this timeline never came to fruition.

Construction did ultimately begin in 1996, with a target completion date of spring 1998.

Delays further pushed the opening back to November 1998, with its first two anchor stores (Hecht's and Lord & Taylor) opening November 18, 1998. JCPenney and Sears opened in late Spring 1999, with the official grand-opening commencing August 12, 1999.

Another wing was added in 2002, anchored by Nordstrom as well as a two-level access corridor of various stores.

Around the same an Edwards Cinema was proposed for the adjoining area. An LA Fitness and a relocated Dick's Sporting Goods later filled this space.

An office building was attached to the Sears wing during this period, but was later razed for a Regal Cinemas Multiplex.

In 2006, all Hecht's stores were renamed Macy's, after their buyout of May Department Stores.

The dawn of the early 2020s saw several storied traditional department store retailers update their brick-and-mortar formats after being encroached upon to a degree by several digital retailers.

On June 30, 2017, Nordstrom announced the closure of their anchor store.^[3]

In August 2020, it was announced that all Lord & Taylor stores nationwide would close, as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic.^[4]

On February 2, 2021, it was announced that Sears would close its anchor store.^[5][6]

In November 2020, Centennial, the mall development firm, announced it was planning an expansion with new retail space, a hotel, apartments, a high-end grocery retailer, as well as the introduction of green space.^[7]

In November 2022, Centennial announced nine new tenants, three of which were temporary holiday pop-up retailers.^[8]

In December 2023, Srinivas Chavali, the CEO of Virginia Property Investments, purchased the mall at $46 million.^[9]

Anchors

Current

• JCPenney (since 1999)
• Macy's (since 2006)
• Dick's Sporting Goods (since 2004)

Former

• Hecht's (1998-2006)
• Nordstrom (2002-2017)
• Lord & Taylor (1998-2020)
• Sears (1999-2021)

Dining

The mall features a large food court in the center court upper level featuring numerous fast food restaurants. The backside of the mall property also has several pad sites featuring many national chain restaurants. The front center entrance to the mall features a Cheesecake Factory.

Shooting Incident

On April 2, 2023, Tanner Cook, a social media content creator, was shot during a prank for YouTube. Cook's channel is called Classified Goons. The suspect who shot Tanner was arrested and later found not guilty.^[10]