A planned expansion has led Potomac Mills mall to cut back on commuter parking in its parking lot.
Mall officials announced this week that they will reduce the number of commuter parking spots from 1,000 to 275, effective Feb. 14.
The change is related to plans to expand the mall and add more restaurants, said Mike Sullivan, general manager of Potomac Mills.
The mall, which opened in 1985 and was acquired by the Simon Property Group in 2007, announced plans in 2008 to build an expansion adding 20,000 square feet of retail space and 30,000 square feet of restaurant space on the south side of the property, where the commuter parking lot is located.
Those plans were put on hold when the recession hit the restaurant industry, Sullivan said, but now restaurants are doing better and the mall is hoping to get its expansion plans back on track.
“The economy is getting better and we’re seeing an uptick in leasing in the mall,” Sullivan said. “We felt it was the appropriate time to make the business decision to try to move our expansion plans forward.”
In recent years the mall has added outlet versions of several upscale retailers, including Bloomindales, Neiman Marcus and Coach.
The mall’s only sit-down restaurant, Ruby Tuesday’s, closed in January 2010.
The mall is in talks with several restaurant chains that may be interested in coming, but are concerned about parking, he said.
“When restaurants take a look at the mall… they have a genuine concern that they wouldn’t have room for parking to meet the needs of the lunch time crowd,” Sullivan said.
The plans announced in 2008 called for the expansion to be built near the AMC movie theater, on the same side of the mall as the commuter parking lot.
As part of an agreement with the county, the mall is required to offer 275 parking spots for commuters, but in the 26 years they’ve been open, the mall has traditionally offered more, Sullivan said. A few years ago, at its commuter-parking peak, the mall reserved as many as 1,300 spots for commuters, he said.
“Potomac Mills is private property and it has helped the county with mitigating commuter parking needs for 26 years,” Sullivan said in an e-mail. “Ultimately it is not a private property owner’s responsibility to solve commuter parking issues… rather [it’s] the county’s responsibility.”
County transportation officials are working to compile a list of commuter parking lots in eastern Prince William County that may have space available for the displaced commuters, said Jason Grant, a county spokesman. Officials hope to have that information available sometime next week, he said.
Area commuters said other parking lots fill up quickly and the reduction in spots at Potomac Mills will make their commutes more difficult.
Commuter Robert Gift said other commuter lots on Horner Road and Va. 234 are so full that cars already park illegally there to fit in the lot.
“The county either needs to expand existing lots of build new ones in close proximity to the Potomac Mills lot,” Gift said in a comment on Insidenova.com’s Facebook page.
Another commuter, Hank Minitrez, said he parks at Potomac Mills now because it “is the best, most convenient lot for me to go to.”
“This will definitely cause Horner and Tackett’s Mill lots, which are already bursting at the seams, to be even worse,” he said in a comment on Facebook. “The rarely used lot north of 123 is… under utilized because it really is so out of the way, but I guess that’s where we’ll have to head, adding time to our commute.”
Sullivan said mall officials understand that some commuters may be frustrated by their decision, but, he said, the mall is private property and their priority is improving their business.
“We’re not doing this for any other reason than we are business. This is a business solution,” Sullivan said. “It’s good for the economy, good for jobs and good for the entire county ... if we are able to expand.”
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