PNC Bank is really going to town in the local area. Already planning to open branches in both Centreville and Franklin Farm, it's now eyeing a spot in Fair Lakes.
And Tuesday night, Kevin Crown, a senior planner with The Peterson Cos., told members of the Springfield District/Fairfax Center Land-Use Committee what's in the works.
He said PNC would like to set up shop on the site of the former Tiaz Restaurant in the Fair Lakes Promenade Shopping Center. "Tiaz has been vacant for quite awhile, and the bank would go there, with an entrance off Monument Drive," said Crown. "The existing parking would remain."
The building would be one-story and more than 4,100 square feet. Said Crown: "It's primarily brick on all four sides, with some architectural steel and glass accentuating the lobby area."
THE BANK would feature a drive-through area with two lanes, plus an ATM and a bypass lane around it all. The drive-through window would be on the north side of the building and be covered by a canopy.
PNC needs Fairfax County's permission to eliminate that shopping center's development condition prohibiting drive-through windows on its premises. It also needs drive-in banks added to those conditions as permitted uses there.
And, said land-use attorney Frank McDermott, also representing PNC, "We're revising the proffers so this will be the only drive-through allowed in the whole, Fair Lakes Promenade Shopping Center."
As for the Tiaz, he said, "It had pretty ugly architecture; no one was pleased with it. And the restaurant never caught on [with the public]."
Land-Use committee Chairman Mark Cummings asked when PNC anticipates having this new bank up and running, and Crown said PNC is submitting its site plan to the county this month.
"It should take eight to 10 months for approval and construction permits," he continued. "By this time next year, I think you'll see construction of this bank."
Cummings also asked if county staff had raised any particular concerns about PNC'S proposal, and Crown said staff had asked whether the bank could develop LEEDS architecture. This term refers to a "green building" that's energy efficient and reduces negative impacts on the environment. But, said Crown, "I don't believe PNC does that with its architecture."
Besides that, added McDermott, "Staff just asked us last week. But as small a building as this is — to go through the whole, LEEDS-certification process, which is extremely difficult — is absolutely unfeasible and uneconomic."
So, said McDermott, "It's just not in the cards for this type of a building. And I don't think we have any outstanding issues with the staff."
Then the land-use committee's Fred Bailey, of the Deerfield Forest Homeowners Association, made a motion to approve the bank's proposal, and Gail Brugger of the Little Rocky Run Homeowners Association seconded. The committee then voted its unanimous approval. The matter next goes to the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors.