Refreshing the Mix: Pentagon City Mall Looks Toward Renovation

The Fashion Centre at Pentagon City is pressing forward with long-term renovation plans.

The mall has announced in recent weeks that Panera Bread opened in its food court. Sephora moved into a new, expanded space. And Ann Taylor reopened after renovations.

"It's kind of like refreshing the mix," mall spokesman Todd Jerscheid told Patch.

Forever 21 is the only store in the mall currently closed for renovation and expansion; it's adding 1,200 square feet. Jerscheid recently confirmed that the luxury women’s retailer C. Wonder will fill part of Sephora’s old space.

Beyond that, the remodeling and expansion of public restrooms on the mall's Metro level should be finished soon. The next phase, which is tentatively planned to start next year, would be a complete remodel of the mall's interior. A third phase would renovate the mall's exterior.

Jerscheid offered no others details on the long-term renovation plans for the mall, or whether that entails temporarily closing parts of the Fashion Centre to accommodate the work.

The mall has no plans to add office or residential space, Jerscheid said.

"Sometimes, there's just a remodel; sometimes, there's an expansion, bringing in new concepts," Jerscheid said. "The Centre does very well in that retailers, this is their first preference. You could say we are the destination mall for the national retailers."

The Fashion Centre at Pentagon City enjoys an occupancy rate at or near 100 percent and maintains a waiting list of potential tenants. And retailers canvass the mall "all the time," Jerscheid said.

Last year, 11 new stores opened in the Fashion Centre.

Some of the recent expansion is due to the mall moving its offices behind Harry's Smokehouse, near the Ritz Carlton.

In May, the mall announced it had recruited a fashion blogger.