On a cold, windy, early March day, James Stubbs exits the Garden Plot garden center’s front door, walks just a few feet, and points to a gravel area.

“This will be the sidewalk,” the garden center’s general manager says, gesturing. There’s a road already filled with plenty of traffic about 20 feet from him. A comically large watering can is to his right. Stubbs takes a few more steps and points to the gravel again.

“This will be the bus lane. And that will be the highway,” Stubbs said. “We lose this entire swath of the front of the business, including the watering can, which is a local landmark. And we’ve got to figure out how to make that work.”

Stubbs’ angst about his shrinking business is due to the expansion of a 3.1-mile section of Richmond Highway in the Alexandria portion of Fairfax County, near Mount Vernon — a project that is already starting to displace businesses along the strip even though construction isn’t expected to start until 2027.

The nearly half-billion-dollar project will widen the road from four to six lanes between Jeff Todd Way and Sherwood Hall Lane. It will also add bike lanes and sidewalks, realign sections, and improve the safety of several intersections. Plus, it will begin adding infrastructure for Richmond Highway’s bus rapid transit system that’s set to start in 2030.

To make room for all of this, the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) is now in the process of acquiring properties.

That’s expected to continue until 2026 with construction beginning the following year, VDOT spokesperson Michael Murphy confirmed to DCist/WAMU. Both of the project’s phases are anticipated to be open to traffic by the end of 2029.

Some businesses blindsided

But even though that feels like a long way off, the Garden Plot is one of a number of local, small businesses that are already being affected by this long-anticipated expansion.

Eighteen parcels of land that included 20 businesses have been acquired so far, Murphy said. The agency anticipates acquiring about 200 parcels of land and VDOT expects that in all, more than two dozen businesses will have to close or relocate, though the agency doesn’t have an exact count as of yet

But that doesn’t include perhaps dozens of additional businesses that could potentially be affected in some way by the project — be it a realigned entrance, a different traffic flow, or the need to shrink its footprint to accommodate the new road, like what’s happening at the Garden Plot.

Stubbs says they will have to shrink the year-old business by about a half acre from its current three acres to accommodate the road expansion. He estimates it will cost them about $150,000, which doesn’t include moving the large, metal watering can on the side of the business.

Stubbs would love to keep the local landmark but it depends on if there’s room and how much the construction to reconfigure their space will cost.

“We’re having to do all of this out of our own pocket,” he says. “We’re going to have to plan certainly in the next year to put money aside for all that work to happen.” The expense could threaten the Garden Plot’s ability to remain open, he says.

VDOT is compensating property owners and businesses if they are being forced to close in accordance with federal and state laws. The agency also confirmed that it’s compensating “landowners” if the acquisition causes damage or a reduction in the value of the property.

The Garden Plot rents the property and Stubbs said he does not know the details of compensation provided to the property owner, which is listed as M&T Property Management in county public records. He also didn’t know if his landlord has any intention of financially assisting the business with the work that would need to be done.

DCist/WAMU has reached out to the property owner but has not heard back as of publication.

Relocations for some, but not others — yet

Juice bar Zen Press is one of the businesses there that had to close entirely. After just opening in February 2022 at 8120 Richmond Highway, they had to close this past February. Owner JuAnn Wong says she was compensated by VDOT but wishes she knew her business was going to have to move less than a year after opening.

“I did get a lot of good customers, loyal customers. We broke even after the first month itself, mainly because the rent was so cheap over there,” said Wong, who’s a first-time business owner. “We may not have a lot of foot traffic, but there is a community in Mount Vernon and it’s a large community.”

By April 2022, however, she was informed by VDOT that she was going to have to relocate by the end of the year.

“That was a shock because my landlord didn’t even tell me about that,” said Wong.

VDOT did not answer the question if a landlord is required to inform prospective tenants prior to them signing a lease about an impending acquisition, only noting “this question is better suited for a legal expert.”

Wong was able to move Zen Press about six miles away to Old Town Alexandria thanks in large part to the compensation she received from VDOT. She re-opened on King Street earlier this month. Nonetheless, she wishes had known about the situation sooner and worries that the move might not be the best thing for her fledgling juice bar.

“Honestly, thinking back, I would like to have stayed there longer and kind of just built my customer base,” Wong said.

Outreach efforts ongoing

Mount Vernon District Supervisor Dan Storck, who represents the residents and businesses along this section of the road on the county’s board of supervisors, acknowledges one of the hardest parts of the road’s expansion has been communicating with all the businesses that it could impact.

He and his staff helped set up town halls, sent notices, and even personally knocked on doors to make sure everyone knew what was happening.

Storck says he has two fluent Spanish speakers on his staff who go out with him to help get the needed information across to owners for whom English may not be their first language.

More than a quarter of the residents living along Richmond Highway are “foreign-born,” per the county’s 2021 market assessment study, with about 12% being from Latin America.

But considering the “sheer numbers” of businesses that are being impacted,” Storck said, it’s only been a fairly small number that he’s directly interacted with. It’s also particularly tough since individual businesses often don’t own the property they sit on.

“Most of the people on the highway that are being displaced are tenants. As a small business, you’re not always attuned to the sort of broader issues and it may not have been brought to your attention,” Storck said. “I know that property owners should [tell tenants]. We expect them to do that. But I can’t be sure that it is, in fact, happening.”

While complications have risen along the way, Storck said this expansion — along with adding infrastructure that will improve pedestrian, bicycle, and public transportation access —- is a must in a part of the county that will continue to see an increase in density and population.

“To move forward, we have to make these changes, these investments. The future in this corridor is urbanization,” he said. “And to create an urban corridor, you have to have urban mass transit systems and walkable and bikeable communities.”

But like in other parts of the region where this urbanization has already taken place, such as Ballston or Reston, the fear is that the future may not include the businesses that were previously there.

For some, compensation may not be enough

Alfredo Solis owns four restaurants in the D.C.-area, with his sister Jessica. They did own five, including El Sol on 11th Street NW and Mezcalero on 14th Street NW, but their Mezcalero location on Richmond Highway closed late last month.

Solis owned the property that Mezcalero sat on and was compensated by VDOT, though for not as much as he believed it was worth. He says he was paid “under a million [dollars],” but the property and business are worth more than that.

“It was not fair. [The amount they paid] you can’t buy property around there for that,” he said.

DCist/WAMU reached out to VDOT and the Fairfax County Department of Transportation (FCDOT), which is also helping to manage the project, about any comment in regard to compensating businesses. “These discussions are considered confidential in nature,” an FCDOT spokesperson said.

Solis liked having a location along Richmond Highway due to it being home to a diversity of residents. He understands why the expansion is happening and he thinks it will ultimately help the community, but in the short term, it’s driving him and others like him out.

“I mean, it’s good for [the community] but it’s not good for small businesses. Because now, I won’t be able to buy property,” Solis said. “Nobody will sell it and it [would] be too high priced anyway. Way too high.”

The expansion has also stirred up resentment from some residents in Gum Springs, one of the county’s most historic African American communities, for how it might drive up property values and drive out long-time residents.

Storck says has heard all of this, how the expansion might put one of the last affordable communities out of reach for residents and businesses alike, but he believes this project is the best thing for Richmond Highway going forward.

“We’re building something for the next 30 to 50 years,” he said. “I’m sure we’re going to see the benefit in the next 10 to 20 years, but the future in the [urban] core that we’re putting together is really for the longer term.”