(Updated, 4:30 p.m.) A slew of new restaurants and stores are set to open at Westpost in Pentagon City over the next year.
From a “taco temple” to a pizza and beer hall to a running store to a new Target, the shopping center formerly known as Pentagon Row will have more than a half dozen new businesses by the fall of next year.
All of these new additions now make Westpost fully leased, confirms a spokesperson for Federal Realty Investment Trust (FRIT), which owns the mixed-use development.
The next to open will be Mimi’s Handmade Ice Cream, which is targeting scooping by the end of this month. The 935-square-foot ice cream parlor was originally going open in the late summer, but that was delayed. Located at 1201 S. Joyce Street, next to Bun’d Up, the shop is owned by local Rollin Amore and named after his daughter. His partner, Sarah, owns an ice cream parlor in Bethesda.
“I have been cooking and creating desserts since I was seven years old and I am excited to make this hobby my job,” Amore told ARLnow back in May.
Kusshi, a sushi restaurant with a location at Bethesda’s Pike and Rose, will be opening in the spring in the space formerly occupied by Namaste Everest, which is next to Mimi’s. We previously reported it was going to start serving by the end of the year.
“Arlington has a lot of business and commerce and has Amazon HQ2 going there as well,” Kusshi’s owner told ARLnow in June about the choice to open at Westpost. “We like to go to mixed-use developments, which is part of our success at Pike and Rose.”
The Baltimore-based Banditos Bar & Kitchen remains on track to also open in the spring. The FRIT spokesperson confirmed that could mean as early as April.
This is the third location of the self-described “taco temple,” but the first in Virginia. The 3,000-square-foot restaurant will have outdoor seating and serve classic fare like tacos, quesadillas, and margaritas.
Also aiming for a spring opening is a 34,000-square-foot Target in the old Bed, Bath, and Beyond space and Road Runner Sports in the former Unleashed space, which shuttered at the beginning of the year.
Target’s target is April while Road Runner Sports is on track for May or “possibly earlier,” says the spokesperson.
Much-anticipated Nighthawk Pizza is also arriving next year. The pizza spot with “a 90s vibe and a beer hall-like atmosphere” is opening “early 2022,” according to a spokesperson. It was originally supposed to start serving slices this fall — in fact, the storefront sticker still advertises this — but that’s been pushed back. (Such delays seem to be common these days, at least in Arlington.)
The pizza and beer hall comes from Arlington nightlife and grooming kingpin Scott Parker, Netflix-famous chef Johnny Spero, and local brewer Aslin Beer Company.
It’s opening in the former location of Champps, which closed in March 2020.
Other developments at Westpost include the opening of the spa and salon Privai, set for November 22. The 4,127-square-foot spa located at 1101 S Joyce Street Suite B-35 specializes in body treatments, facials, salon services, and guided meditation. It is the salon’s fourth Virginia location.
Bun’d Up, meanwhile, is also going through a renovation, according to the FRIT spokesperson. It currently remains open. That’s owned by chef Scott Chung, will reopen.
Restaurants and stores are not the only openings at Westpost. The center’s ice skating rink opened for the season over the weekend.