On October 8, 2024, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved VHC Health’s special exception application to redevelop an approximately 2.4-acre retail site located at the intersection or Arlington Boulevard and Graham Road.
As approved, the proposal will demolish an existing, aging retail building known as the Graham Center in order to construct a new 24,250 square foot, one-story medical complex. The new medical complex will be a state-of-the-art facility, integrating sustainable design principles to support and advance community health and wellness.
The primary focus of the redevelopment will be an innovative healthcare facility that combines emergency department services with urgent care services all in one location. Serving to relieve high emergency department utilization on the nearby Virginia Hospital Center main hospital campus, this combined use will provide nearby neighborhoods with an important and currently unavailable care option.
The combined emergency/urgent care component will comprise approximately 14,740 square feet of the new building, while the remainder 9,510 square feet will support a variety of medical services, such as primary care, specialty services, and/or diagnostic imaging services.
In addition to providing a new medical care option to the surrounding community, the approved development offers significant pedestrian safety and accessibility improvements, including a replacement of the existing Arlington Boulevard service drive with 10-foot-wide shared-use paths along both Graham Road and Arlington Boulevard. These improvements are in direct response to growing safety concerns associated with several fatal pedestrian crashes that have occurred at the Graham Road/Arlington Boulevard intersection over recent years.
In collaboration with the Providence District Supervisor’s Office, the Virginia Department of Transportation, and the County’s Department of Planning and Development, VHC Health is committed to a number of transportation improvements. These include widening and extending the existing median on Graham Road, integrating a new pedestrian refuge at the Graham Road/Arlington Boulevard crossing, creating a new designated left turn lane from Graham Road into the site, and installing a number of traffic controls that will restrict left turning movements from various points along Graham Road.
The approved redevelopment will also be marked by significantly more green spaces, landscaping, and native plantings all around the site. VHC Health will also install new stormwater controls and implement best management practices on the site, where none exist today.
Once constructed, this hybrid medical care model that combines both emergency care and urgent care will be the first of its kind in the state of Virginia. To bring this innovative healthcare option to Fairfax County, VHC Health has partnered with Intuitive Health, who pioneered the first combined emergency/urgent care facility in Dallas, Texas in 2008. Intuitive Health will operate this new facility as VHC Health’s first off-campus outpatient emergency service department.
Kathryn Taylor successfully secured the approval for this first-of-its-kind project on behalf of VHC Health during the special exception process.
