A Dead Mall Bequeathed to an Oblivious Society | Ballston Quarter, VA | ExLog 126, Phase VIII Debut
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 1 окт 2024
- ⚓Catch up on the full Expedition Log Series!⚓
⭐Support the Expedition Log on Patreon, if you like!⭐
/ salvatoreamadeo
⭐Join my channel as a member, and become an Elite Explorer!⭐ / @sal
Second Channel! - / quitestudios
💬 Chat with me live on the DMOD Discord Server here ( click the link below)💬
/ discord
📱 Check out my Social Media!📱
My Website: www.salvatorea...
Facebook Page! - / quitestudios
ExLog Series Playlist - • Expedition Log Series ...
Twitter - / salvatoreamadeo
Instagram - / salvatoreamadeo
🎵 Follow the incredible tunes of Caspro🎵
smarturl.it/Ca...
Welcome to Phase VIII, Legion! I can't wait to show you all of the amazing locations around my new house and studio! But what are your thoughts...can Ballston be saved with a less traditional "mall" idea? Let me know!
#exlog #salguido #dmodfam
Welcome to Phase VIII ! Find merch here: salvatoreamadeo.com/merch
@ 31:32 - I really enjoy riding in elevators that travel very fast! LOL! You should go to Walt Disney World in Florida and ride the Tower of Terror!
Fantastic job Sal! Your vids are TopShelf as always ❤
Dude! First off, great video! I love your stuff so much.
Second, @ElevatorJones is my account with my son. He’s going to be so excited to see your history tour! Thanks for the shout out.
I’ve frequented this mall since I got a job in Virginia in 1998. I used to work at the National Science Foundation across the street and ate at the old food court Subway every day. I saw the mall go from thriving in the 90s to deader than dead in the mid 2010s.
We live a few miles from this mall and frequent the other DC area malls a lot. As you can tell from the username, he loves elevators. Welcome to the area!
You guys have a great channel!! Thanks so much for getting out there to film this stuff for future generations!!
Ballston Quarter has the curse of not being Pentagon City or Tysons Corner.
100% accurate
Well put!
Once Pentagon City opened Ballston Common Mall started to die. Same with Landmark.
The AOL ad is top tier work. Well done
Great job on EL126, Sal. This mall looks great but you were correct on everything about it. I wonder what the count is on the word "Ballston" in this episode? Thanks again, man!
Never disappointed with your content! LOVE that I learn so much! I know it's a long shot but if I don't ask I'll never know. I was perusing your merch and I am wondering if you have any more prints of Century III?
I might…can you shoot me a message on discord to remind me?
Very detailed report of a unique "mall". Good job, Salvatore!
One of my first jobs was at the Hecht’s at Parkington in the late 70s. I remember the windows with the messages. Nice documentary and congratulations on your move to heavenly Virginia.
Miss You Son, have a great premiere🎥
Hey ma, love you. See you at my concert this weekend ❤️
I had been in this mall several times during the late 1980s and early 1990s when it was known more commonly locally as Ballston Commons. It was doing a brisk business in the 1980s. But by the early 1990s, it seemed that business was starting to fall off a bit. My guess is that people were finding the other shopping options available in Northern Virginia. (Tysons Corner is not too far away for example.)
Tysons will most likely be my Christmas episode this year!
Sal, i absolutely love your stuff, as I've told you on Discord! I absolutely love your deep dives into the histories of each episode's mall. Please keep up your amazing work, broski!
Sal, Ballston Common Mall was the first mall I visited after moving to VA in the '90s; before I discovered Tysons! They used to have these cheesy commercials involving an English butler! I like what they did with the outside area but can't say I'm surprised the mall is mostly empty.
Sal has the best sponsors. I'm sure America Online will be huge some day. 😉
ExLog Phase VIII has started.
Buckle up. Phase VIII is going to be epic.
I lived in Ballston from 2015 to 2021, and still occasionally went to the mall till last year. Ballston Quarter at its peak felt far more dead than when they kicked everyone out of Ballston Commons.
Basically every ounce of personality was removed and squished into what feels like what an agency thought hipsters were in 2015 right as the movement fell off. They refused to let any of the chain mall staple tenants sign new leases, so it lost a Gamestop and one of the few remaining FYEs among others. The second floor stalls that are walled over were never opened post-renovation because they couldn’t fill their other available spots.
This is so sad. They never even tried..
Hi Sal! That walkway used to be a way for employees of the National Science Foundation and other employees to walk back and forth between their offices and the mall and the metro for a long time when it was "Ballston Mall."
You taped this on my 33rd bday when I was in Tampa riding the Scorpion coaster at Busch Gardens (which was its last day of operation) and seeing the Redskins Vs. Buccaneers game. I think i still have a mid-2000s directory map of Ballston Common and I used to frequent the property in 2021 during my brief time working for Amazon. I hate that Ballston Quarter has failed that quickly :(
I’ve lived within a 5-10 minute drive of this property for several years. I drive to Tysons when I go to the mall. I came too late to see this mall in its glory years. By the early 2010s it was all but dead. The redevelopment was in my mind always going to fail. An outdoor area doesn’t get people back into a dead Macys (and its been all but dead for over a decade). Back in the 50s and 60s this was suburban, but now its urban apartment dweller land. Theres a ton of people with plenty of disposable income even in walking distance, but those people generally don’t go to malls. The clientele here will buy 20 things online for every one item they buy in a store. The suburban mall clientele still around lives further out and Tysons is just more practical for most.
But theres also the simple reality that theres fewer people in this group. That drives consolidation. I only ever went to the Commons mall for the Regal because otherwise it never had any useful stores. That never changed. Only the biggest and glitziest malls in a region can still maintain the critical mass of tenants required to motivate shoppers to go there. Thats Tysons in the DC area. See also King of Prussia mall basically sucking the air out of the remaining suburban Philly retail sector.
As for Ballston Quarter, I think its obvious that it will entirely give way to apartment buildings with gastronomy space at ground level…so it will be pretty much like everything else in central Arlington.
@ 27:05 "A WHOLE LOT OF NOTHING"
So much nothing!!
@@sal I really enjoyed your latest ex log and look forward to your future videos!
Ballston Commons was a great mall. I’ve only been a few times since the redesign, but yeah I have no idea what they were going for. It seemed like they had less space for retail and the new layout made it difficult to find the stuff that was there. I suspect the aim was/is to be more selective and attract upscale shops.
I’d guess the most profitable part these days is the garage…for out-of-towners it’s the best place to park for the day if you’re Metroing into DC..
Oh man I didn’t even think about people parking here to metro over to DC! Makes sense…
flabbergasted to see a place I went to so much as a kid on my recommended tab but it truly was the worst of the local malls
Well I do appreciate you taking a moment to click through! I’ll be covering lots of other local places in the next few months!
the most notable features of the mall when I went as it was known as Ballston Commons were definitely the ice rink and a comedy club. Every other store I remember feeling like an airport version of the same store you could find in Tysons or Fair Oaks. The food court WAS still pretty exciting if you liked mall food and really who didn't like Sbarros back in the day. The new food court has some really fun stuff now actually and I highly recommend Go Poke, Oh K Dog and Bartaco.
You never had to actually call that number to get an AOL startup kit. They were EVERYWHERE in the 90s. You even glance at a computer related magazine and they would be there. Toward the end of the 90s they were literally junk mail in the mailbox.
They were taped to the front of most tech magazines too
The "get off the internet, someone needs to call somebody" internet since it used the landline phone line. If parents and siblings needed to use the phone, you needed to actually go outside and feel the sun and breeze.
The late 90's.
lol, I keep hearing “Boston Common.”
I was driving myself nuts recording this script because of that. The pain is felt.
Very excited for Crystal City Mall 2: Halloween ExLog Boogaloo
It’s full of shenanigans. Get stoked.
Listen… I pay a lotta money for this free content… gotta get these videos up to 5 hour episodes!!! 😂😂😂
You can do it! 🎉🎉🎉
The mall was thriving in the 80’s. I grew up in the area. What happened was 1) Pentagon City opened a few miles to the south in 1989 and 2) Tysons Corner Center underwent a massive renovation/expansion (few miles to the north/west) in 1988. That pretty much sealed the deal for Ballston. The most recent renovation, where the roof was removed, brought a nicer food hall (formerly food court). I’m very curious to see what happens with the former Macy’s. The mall could use a nicer movie theater also, vs. the one it has.
Thanks Sal for another awesome ExLog! Your vid productions never disappoint. Love the history you unfolded here. This mall looks really nice and clean. Too bad it's not being occupied. It's a nice modern looking mall in my opinion. Honestly I would hang out there with my friends and have a pizza, watching your Exlog series on my iPad.😊
Ballston mall had such a nostalgic feel of the 80s to it. They gutted it just before they could've used it to their advantage. I hope the movie theater is still neon 80s.
Differing opinion here…
Ballston Quarter can still be a successful retail and dining area. Much of its success is going to depend on what they do with the old Macy’s facility. Depending on what they can do with that AND depending on if they can bring some meaningful retail into the location to attract foot traffic, it can still succeed.
Despite its current state - much of which is related to the post-COVID realty blood-letting - it still has too many things going for it. The food court is solid and, due to Arlington Public Schools allowing Seniors to go off campus for lunch,it gets a lot of traffic. There’s a ton of residential property within easy walking distance of this facility. To top it off, the Washington Capitals have their practice facility on the top floor and it draws a ton of traffic from hockey and ice skating patrons.
The biggest impediment may be the Arlington County board. They may make their decisions on the future of the facility based on partisan politics rather than pragmatism.
Frequented this mall as a teen from late 2000s-early 2010s. I was gone a few years and came back to it under construction for a minute then later it was completely renovated and I hated the new design. Every time I've been back it's had way less people than I remember it having before they remodeled
As always great video 👍
Interesting -- my work (National Science Foundation) moved to Arlington not too long after the Macy's conversion -- into a building connected to Ballston Common Mall via a skyway -- could walk from the subway through the mall and to my building all inside. NSF moved to Alexandrea about the same time that the mall became the Quarters mall -- after I had already moved on to other work. It does look a lot like the Commons mall still -- but a lot emptier!
It's not clear from the Google Maps satellite view, but the building that I worked in is still there, but I don't see the 'skyway' over Wilson Blvd that connected the Mall to the building....
Aha! Ballston Exchange is the building that was the National Science Foundation when I worked there -- I think that we had a few retail/bank tenants on the ground/street level, but the rest of the building was NSF.
OK -- thanks to you I remember a lot more clearly now -- the Metro was on the corner of one building with a skyway to my building (now the Ballston Exchange) and then the mall was across the street from that -- but I thought that we had a skyway to the mall also.... And while I worked there the area did not have quite so many mid-rise buildings, most were office space, so the folks just went to the mall to get lunch, not to shop....
BTW, I am pretty sure the current garage was built in the 1980s with the Ballston redevelopment.
You might be right about that, thank you!
You are right about the ball being a weird space. The mall is mostly places to eat and a few shops. People do hang out in parts of the mall and terrace. The parking is used for the mall tenants but also for the office buildings nearby and the Metro. It’s super cheap to park there.
Ballston Exchange used to be the National Science Foundation building before NSF moved to Alexandria.
Lastly, the food court, ahem food hall, is a good one. And the restaurants around the area are always busy.
I used to live by Richmond and I heard Short Pump and Stony Point outdoor malls are dying. I agree there’s nothing there to draw anyone there at all times. It’s just going to the gym and leaving, going to church then leaving. Especially if there are other malls in the area. I really enjoy your videos! I have never heard of this mall. It sounds like Boston instead of Ballston. Plus most of the escalators are broken which doesn’t make the mall look good. Where’s the upkeep?
I’m so sad I missed the premiere, was out working, Absolutely stunning footage!!
This mall is beautiful! Exquisite editing as always, amazing work uncle Sal!❤💯🔥
Thanks for watching, kid! Keep up the good work, yourself!
Fun Fact: the ideal location for this mall is Ballston Massachusetts
I used to work in the mall back in 88/89. At that time the Mall was lively, but with the opening on Pentagon City Mall that changed.
I'm not sure if I'd call Ballston Quarter a dead mall. It was never a living mall after the redevelopment.
Fair enough…but until they formally rebrand and reinvent it to something non-retail, I firmly believe this is a dead mall.
ST John College and Catholic University know it well
Did my undergrad at Catholic. Never heard of this mall until recently
Hell. I'd give anything to go to a mall that has a food court. I'd go just FOR the food court... some mall pizza or Chinese... The "new" Montgomery, AL apparently doesn't have what it takes to support a mall with a food court.
That land is so valuable that whoever owns it is going to come out golden no matter what happens.
It’s worth billions
Bye Kids😊
Parkington had a ton of parking.
Ballston has a ton of...
Gottem
Kayaking friends? Kayaking friends! On my computer! lmao
NOW IS THE TIME to BUY up one of these MALLS (like the one here-in) and turn it into WHAT IT WAS MEANT TO BE ::: Apartments & LIVING spaces. SOME malls had POST OFFICES & P.O. boxes. OTHERS had D.M.V. Services. ONE of these NEEDS to be SAVED before it goes into ABANDONED mode!!!!
Moved to area in 2003 - this was the closest shopping center to me. My GF at the time bought Motorola Flip whatever at a Verizon Kiosk there. It was pretty ok populated with a GameStop and other stores open. The place always focused on entertainment over shopping - even back in 2003 there were several restaurants geared towards nightlife crowds, an Improv comedy venue, and the movie theater. I would frequently attend trainings at Global Knowledge across that sky walk that was locked - we could get buzzed in via that callbox.
Ultimately, I ended up going to Pentagon City mall more often, for obvious reasons. That place is pretty thriving even to this day.
Spectacular as always, Sal!
Thank you!!
Welcome to Virginia! I've lived in the Ballston area specifically since 2013. The original Commons Mall was also an odd space. There was a restaurant (the name escapes me) that had a smoking section grandfathered in so that the entire side of the mall always smelled like cigarettes. Even then, people mainly used the location to meet for the movies and/or dinner.
The restaurants have changed and gotten both more fancy and more expensive since the rebuild and branding as the Quarter. You got it very right when you talked about the area being bougie. The high school a few blocks over has its own planetarium. There is so much wealth in this area. That informs a lot of what you saw.
One last tidbit that you might find interesting: the Capitol One branch was a Commons tenant that the developer moved multiple times throughout the construction so it could stay open. That's no small thing when you consider they had to move the vault as part of that.
If you are looking for another odd space to cover, might I suggest the Georgetown Park shops in DC? It's not dissimilar from the Quarter with its odd mix of tenants. There is also a lot of history there.
Thank you again for such a wonderful, well-done video.
Really enjoyed your video. that was until I had a really weird feeling come over me. I used to live in the area decades ago. Being around so many people and the trappings of city life then was nerve wracking to me. I now live in a small town of 10,000+ in Central Wisconsin and even this is getting a bit busy around here. But looking at that mall, and then thinking that people are living there, eating there, working out, that's their existence (minus work but what if they don't leave for that even?), it gave me this 'Brave New World' 15-minute city vibe that creeped me right out. Too close, too loud, too much light, always. Nope.
EDIT: That AOL commercial is hilarious! Gave it the treatment it deserves!
I was at the food hall a few weeks ago and it was pretty good and pretty busy. Having only moved to the area in 2019, I didn’t really realize there was a mall above it until I got out of the metro and noticed the building that used to be Macy’s. Still, it could be worse. It could be the Crystal City Underground.
There's just something _special_ about the way 13:45 flows from indoor to outdoor concourse whilst keeping the same style. Great architectural transition.
That sounds like a great place to open a GNC, Vitamin shop, Dicks, big 5's or sports Authority with all the Gyms and Sports centers in the mall.
I briefly worked at the Ballston Macy's during the pandemic. I had just moved from Texas to Virginia, that job was my first time stepping foot in the Ballston Quarter, I grew up with an appreciation for malls as my hometown has 5 I immediately found the layout of Ballston Quarter odd, the retail space extremely limited, and the foot traffic was night and day from the busy outside streets of Arlington to the slow inside of the mall. The draws seemed to be Punch Bowl Social and Macy's which had street entrances, the Chick-fil-a on the first floor, and maybe the bottom floor dining area? It's a shame to see such a modern design while having nothing to show for it but glad to revisit digitally and relive memories through another great ExLog
Lived in the area for a decade as it was redeveloped from a mall i never went to to a hybrid mall i rately went to. Some good food in the bottom floor to be totally fair. Seen a lot of movies there over the years too. But as stated theres nothing else to do there. That macys was AWFUL.
Enjoyed this video! Missed the premiere which made me sad. I enjoy time chatting during premieres. Loves the video as always, Sal!
My Monday into Tuesday was better when got notification Sal had posted new video 😊❤. Can’t believe on Season 8 now. Looks like got there just in time unfortunately probably not much life left of this place deadlier then dead
The developers really did a nice job on the decor, but were too late to execute and still need traffic. The mall had been dead since the early 2000s and in the 90s was already struggling with versions of store that were often better stocked at Pentagon City, Tyson's or Georgetown. The old vibe was never great. The Macys, however, had furniture and staff seemed to really try to present well (often better than Tyson's).
This mall resists awareness. In 15 years since I moved to the DMV, I've never heard a single person refer to this mall. I've driven through Ballston plenty of times without noticing it. I've even been in that Punch Bowl Social for a friend's get together and didn't notice that there was a mall attached.
I think they need to add more stores, the apartments make sure they have patronage and the other stuff seems good but where are the stores!
Awesome job Sal !!!.
Heading to the discord 🎉
As a fan of your videos and a denizen of Northern Virginia. I await this series with bated breath.
Americans like the word "quarter" I see.
Did you know I can even send email on the internet?
Great video! Today this place is like it has a split personality, it doesn't know wh at it is or wants to be.
wow thats not far from me at all i think i might pull up on this one
Fullview always, Liked 👍 ♥️
Shoulder pads lol
Phase VIII!!! Here we gooo!
Nice video
Man, I love these ❤
I’ve got so many more episodes coming, sit tight!!
Isn’t Oakton mall dead now too?
Fair Oaks?
@@sal yes, I got the name mixed up. It’s about dead now too with anchor stores gone. Annapolis mall is on the downs now as well.
@robertsole9970 fair Oaks is about 5 minutes from me right now. I’m either covering that or Manassas in November
Not enough people care