Leesburg’s Top 10 Projects

After writing about such projects as the completion of a key link and the planned into Loudoun County, I started thinking about all of the changes I have seen in Leesburg during the 23 years I have lived and worked here.

I decided to compile a list of the Top Ten projects I have seen completed in Leesburg since 1989. These are projects that have affected the everyday lives of those who live here – where we live and shop, and how we get around and spend our leisure time. They are all projects that occurred, at least partly, in Leesburg.

Here are my choices:

1. Dulles Greenway – After years of debate, enabling legislation, planning and construction, the private toll road finally opened in September 1995. The road made it much easier to get from Leesburg to Dulles Airport and points east. In my opinion, this transportation link made it much more desirable to live in Leesburg and commute to employment centers in Fairfax County and Washington, D.C. This helped open up the floodgates to the unprecedented amount of residential development we have seen in Leesburg ever since.
   
   
2. Leesburg Corner Premium Outlets – When many out-of-towners think of Leesburg, they think of the “Leesburg outlets.” In that respect, the opening of the shopping center in October 1998 helped put Leesburg on the map, and attracts people from all over the region to shop here. The mall now has 110 stores, and is a favorite of locals as well as people from out of town.  
   
   
3. County Government Center – By the early 1990s, the county government had outgrown its administration building, and county offices were housed in many scattered rental facilities. After the decision was made to build a new government center, sites as far away as Sterling were considered. The Board of Supervisors almost decided to build it in the Stratford development near the Leesburg airport, before voting to build it downtown. This decision kept hundreds of jobs in Leesburg’s historic downtown, and helped contribute to the downtown’s vitality today. The government center opened in June 1996.
   
   
4. Walmart – As the first of Leesburg’s “big box” stores, Walmart helped change our shopping habits when it opened in May 1993. Before that, many of us would drive well over 30 minutes to get to malls in Fairfax County, Winchester, or Frederick., Md., for most of our shopping. Other popular big box stores have followed, including Target, Home Depot, and Costco, but Walmart started changing the shopping habits of many Leesburg-area residents.
   
   
5. Ida Lee Park – When the park opened in 1990, it gave Leesburg a top-notch park and recreation center. With its expansion in 2002 and the addition of new swimming facilities in 2009, the Ida Lee Recreation Center is now truly first-class.
   
   
6. Wegmans and the Village at Leesburg – I don’t recall another business that opened with quite the buzz that accompanied the opening of Wegmans in November 2009. Not only did it take grocery shopping in Leesburg to a new level, but it also heralded the opening of a shopping center that has transformed Leesburg’s shopping and entertainment options, including several new restaurants and the Cobb Theatres.
   
   
7. Heritage and Tuscarora high schools, along with seven other new schools – When my family moved here, Leesburg had one high school, one middle school, and two elementary schools. Those numbers have now grown to three, three and seven, respectively.
   
   
8. Rust Library – When Rust Library opened in January 1992, it was a vast improvement over the Thomas Balch Library, which it replaced. The Balch Library was subsequently converted into a first-rate library for history and genealogy, and transferred to town control in 1994. The expansion of Rust Library in 2009 took that facility to an even higher level.
   
   
9. The court expansion and renovation project – Between 1998 and 2002, the court facilities were significantly expanded and upgraded. The project eventually led to the closing of the downtown jail and its relocation in southeastern Leesburg.
   
   
10. The connection of the Battlefield Parkway from Fort Evans to Edwards Ferry roads. Last August, I wrote about , which made it much easier to get around northeastern Leesburg, in particular.

There were several other major projects that I was not able to fit into this list, and many others that were accomplished before I came to Leesburg.

I chose not to include any of the housing developments that that have expanded the town in all directions. Those could easily comprise a Top Ten list of their own.

What do you think the biggest projects are that you have seen in Leesburg? I’d like to hear from people who have lived here much longer than I have, and I’d also like to get the perspective of relative newcomers.

If you respond with your choices using the “email the author” link above, please include your name and how long you have lived in Leesburg. I’ll write a follow-up to this column based on your observations if I get a sufficient number of responses.