The Falls Church city council on Monday voted unanimously to approve the East End Small Area Plan – a proposal for redevelopment and reinvestment for a 10-block business zone that includes the Eden Center, a historic strip mall that has served the Vietnamese community for nearly four decades. It’s home to over 100 restaurants, supermarkets, and shops.

“The Eden Center is a cultural powerhouse and it’s something that must be preserved,” said Mayor David Tarter during the meeting. “No one in this room wants to lose the great thing we have right now. And so I think this plan is a good first step.”

More than a dozen people crowded the council chambers or called in over Zoom to share their comments on the final hearing of the proposed plan. For months, Vietnamese community members and local organizers with the Viet Place Collective have been campaigning to make their voices heard after concern grew that the Eden Center would be outright demolished or that with redevelopment, rent would increase and long-time business owners would be forced to leave.

“The fear in my community of displacement is real,” said Quang Le, the general manager of Hương Binh Bakery & Deli.

The project was commissioned by the city council as a long-term planning tool and includes seven other commercial areas that could benefit from the city’s investment. It kicked off with a community event in November of 2021, with several work sessions and an outreach event in the following months.

But in mid-January of 2023, after the project had already been in motion for over a year, the city began to face criticism for not making greater efforts to receive input from business owners and other community members. Many stakeholders, in particular those who primarily speak Vietnamese, were also unaware that such a project was even in the works.

“I don’t think there’s any question that language access is an equity issue. If you’re a native English speaker, you have a significant advantage over people who don’t speak English as a first language,” VPC organizer Jenn Trần told DCist/WAMU.

In the months since, local organizers with the VPC have had their sights set on protecting the shopping center’s cultural legacy and future. They’ve gone from business to business with crucial information on the project, printed in Vietnamese. The VPC has also gathered feedback from the community on what they would like to see in potential redevelopment of the Eden Center.

Those efforts prompted city officials to host more listening sessions onsite at the shopping center than were previously planned. The campaign from the VPC also led to calls for Falls Church to hire a Vietnamese outreach specialist, and to implement anti-displacement strategies like grants for legacy businesses. Some stakeholders also shared their wish that the zone, which includes businesses outside of the Eden Center, be designated as “Little Saigon” as a way to honor the Vietnamese community and acknowledge their former hub in Clarendon.

But not all business owners are in favor of some of the changes that organizers have called for. Duy Doung, who operates the Gong Cha boba shop at the Eden Center, shared that his business relies on its name recognition. He says the Eden Center draws people from all over the region and beyond as one of the largest hubs of Vietnamese businesses on the East Coast of the United States.

“There’s only one Eden Center,” said Doung. “I don’t think the name should change, especially when it’s not due to any particular reason.”

As part of the proposal’s approval, the city’s planning commission is recommending that potential plans for redevelopment should include the hiring of a Vietnamese outreach specialist, along with more green spaces for the public, improvements for pedestrian safety, and more accessibility enhancements.

Still, city officials were adamant that adopting the proposal is only the first step towards some of those potential changes. In the future, there will need to be more research done to find avenues for some of those requests, such as grants for legacy businesses or renaming the surrounding zone as “Little Saigon.” According to city officials, those changes fall out of the scope of the current proposal.

Alan Frank, the general counsel and senior vice president of Capital Commercial Properties, which owns the entire shopping center, was firm that the name of the Eden Center should not change. But he also says that although there are some differences of opinion among key stakeholders, the landlord is ultimately happy that the city is keeping them in mind for reinvestment.

“We are happy with the outcome of the small area plan for the east end,” Frank told DCist/WAMU. “We’ve done a lot of things ourselves, and the city has committed to making it better on their side of the property line. And so, that’s terrific because we feel like we’ve been a little left out over the years when other parts of the city have received more attention.”

For Trần, it’s simply a victory that the language of the proposal centers around the Eden Center. She said that the proposal’s anti-displacement tool kit is a sign that their campaigning was a success, and that the future holds more room to protect the Vietnamese community’s legacy.

“This is just the beginning,” Trần told DCist/WAMU. “We have a lot of work to do together with the city, continuing to advocate for the community, and working with the landlord – with Capital Commercial Properties – to all meet this shared goal of preserving Eden Center.”