This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

An indoor pool at Tall Oaks Shopping Center?

"She who must be obeyed insisted her chariot's brakes needed inspecting.  So I drive all the way over to MetroTech Shopping Center in Chantilly to see my brakes guys with the 'golden touch.' Now there's a retailer we need back in town. " It's good neighbor, Bob, and it sounds like the beginning of another long harangue about changes in Reston.

"But I see the strangest thing I seen in 70 odd years: an indoor pool in a shopping center window! The pool deck was level with the sidewalk and there used to be a store there.  So that landlord had to have excavated the hole for the pool!"

"Well, the tenent might have paid for that." I suggest.

"Who cares. The point is, Sparky, why can't your pals at RCC do the same thing at the old grocery store at the Tall Oaks shopping center?"

"That space is probably big enough for a 50 meter pool.  It would be cheaper than new construction at Baron Cameron.  There's plenty of parking and it would add foot traffic to a dying retail center." I muse.

"You mean 'dead,' don't you? How dead do you have to be that 7-11 leaves?" Bob chortles.

"Then Baron Cameron can be left as it is." Bob continues.  "And the soccer fields, dog park and adult softball can stay where they are."

"RCC's done something like this before." I offer. "They took over the old grocery store space the Lake Anne Center.  A 99 year lease would allow plenty of time to pay off the bonds to finance the renovation."

"And it would save Tall Oaks from being 'rehabilitated' into one of those hideous towers they want to put in the Lake Ann "redevelopment"!" snarks Bob with air quotes.

"Think they'd be room for indoor tennis?" I ask.

"Do I look like Mike Miller?" Bob refers to the designer of the Lake Newport indoor tennis proposal.

"So, Mr. Land-use guy, why haven't you thought of that.  Seems to bag 3 or 4 birds with one rock." Bob taunts as he moves on.

Once again, I am speechless in the presence of genius.


We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?