Restaurant On Old Motel Site Up For Planning Commission Review

FALLS CHURCH, VA — The site plan for a restaurant on the former Stratford Motor Lodge site will be considered by the Falls Church Planning Commission Wednesday.

The plan to revitalize the former Stratford Motor Lodge site was first announced to the Falls Church Planning Commission in late September. The Stratford Motor Lodge at 300 W. Broad St. has been closed since 2021 and the site is fenced off to discourage trespassing. La Caraqueña, a popular Venezuelan restaurant in the Stratford Motor Lodge, closed in 2017.

The proposal comes from the team behind Dominion Wine and Beer in Falls Church, Downtown Crown in Gaithersburg and Georgetown Square Wine and Beer in Bethesda. The team is proposing to renovate part of the existing building for a kitchen and grab-and-go food. The rest of the former motel would be demolished and replaced with a new restaurant with indoor and outdoor seating and surface parking.

Because the proposal is allowed as by-right under the zoning ordinance, Planning Commission approval of the site would allow the construction and renovation of the indoor-outdoor restaurant. A few technical comments from city staff would be addressed in a post-approval final site plan with administrative approval by the city's planning director.

The plan includes a proposed 65 percent parking reduction. The developer proposes a surface parking lot with 33 parking spaces, including two handicap spaces, as well as 16 bike spaces. The developer's Transportation Demand Management plan cites the proposed restaurant's proximity to public transit and public parking lots. If parking becomes insufficient in the future, city staff recommend the restaurant provide additional bike racks, lease parking spaces from neighboring properties, require employees to park off-site, encourage employees to use alternate transportation and subsidize public transportation for employees.

"Planning staff is supportive of the requested parking modification, given that the project is a partial demolition and renovation of a relatively small lot, and the proposal includes approximately 30% of the site square footage as surface parking," reads a city staff report. "In addition, a majority of the total restaurant seating is outdoor dining and subject to seasonal use."