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(Update 5:15 p.m.) Demolition has begun on the exterior of the old Kann’s Department Store to make way for George Mason University’s Arlington campus expansion.
A University spokesperson confirmed to ARLnow that demolition of the interior began in November and the exterior demolition began this week. It’s expected to be completed in the fall.
Fencing went up in November around the mid-century building that has a long Arlington history.
First opened in 1951 as the suburban branch of a popular D.C. department store, Kann’s Department Store at 3401 Fairfax Drive became a gathering spot for many in Arlington. The department store featured three-floors, an escalator, a restaurant called the “Kannteen,” and monkeys.
(Updated at 4:20 p.m.) Initial preparations are underway for a major transformation of the George Mason University campus in Virginia Square.
Fencing is currently going up around the former Kann’s Department Store on the GMU Arlington campus, next to the FDIC office complex, in preparation for demolition. The aging, mid-century brick building, at 3401 Fairfax Drive, is set to be torn down starting in early 2021.
The demolition will make way for a $250 million expansion project, which will see the construction of an expansive new building to house new tech-oriented facilities.
“The university is transforming its Arlington campus to create a new innovation hub for the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor,” GMU said of the project. “The multi-million dollar expansion project will include an approximately 500,000 SF state-of-the-art building that will serve as the headquarters for Mason’s Institute for Digital Innovation and its proposed School of Computing.”
What began life in 1951 as Kannâs Department Store, then in 1979 embarked on a second act as the nucleus of the Arlington campus of George Mason University, will not be making it to its 70th birthday.
The building, which has not been in academic use for years, is slated to be demolished beginning in early March, according to university officials. The razing, long in the works, will free up space for a major new facility on the 4.8-acre parcel in the heart of Virginia Square.
âDecommissioningâ of the Kannâs building has begun, university officials said, in preparation for its razing.