Alan Frank, senior vice president and general counsel for Capital Commercial Properties, owner of the Eden Center, spoke before the Planning Commission (May 3, 2023) and the City Council (June 26, 2023) about the City’s proposed East End Small Area Plan (SAP). On each occasion, he stressed that the company has no plans to redevelop the Eden Center, despite rumors to the contrary. The Center is currently fully occupied by Vietnamese and other Asian business owners.

At the June 26, 2023, City Council meeting, Frank recounted the history of how what was originally called the Plaza 7 Shopping Center attracted Vietnamese tenants, beginning 40 years ago. The tenants asked for the center to be renamed Eden Center. The owner agreed and has been marketing the center under that name ever since. Eden Center is now a registered trademark of Capital Commercial Properties. The owner is concerned that renaming the area “Little Saigon East” will lead to confusion with other, similarly named areas across the country and waste years of marketing the Falls Church area as Eden Center.

In addition, 40 percent of the square footage in the Eden Center is non-Vietnamese. The center includes Korean, Thai, and Chinese tenants.

On the issue of displacement, Frank pointed out that tenants can extend their leases up to 25 years, effectively preventing redevelopment. He further argued that tenant displacement has to be dealt with fairly and equitably across the City and not just at the Eden Center. Frank cautioned that the part of the SAP that suggests displacement measures would apply between now and when any East End redevelopment occurs contradicts existing landlord-tenant laws and so is illegal. He listed a number of non-financial ways the City can help ease displacement and referred the City to Falls Church Chamber of Commerce recommendations on displacement.

Frank also asked the City not to reduce the number of lanes on Wilson Boulevard, because doing so would choke off traffic to the Eden Center.

In response to the SAP recommendation to rename part of Wilson Boulevard “Saigon Boulevard,” Frank produced an old street sign and reminded the City Council that Council approved this change 15 years ago. He acknowledged that some of the street signs along the Eden Center have disappeared and said they will be replaced soon.

Capital Commercial Properties also submitted a letter to the Planning Commission about their concerns; the letter can be accessed here. Frank’s comments to the Planning Commission on May 3, 2023 can be found here.

Below is a video clip (8m 44s) of his statement to the City Council on June 26,2023, just before the City Council voted unanimously to pass the East End Small Area Plan.

Transcript (edited for readability):

Frank: We all cherish the same thing, and I want to make that clear. … In that lengthy plan that the planning staff worked so hard on, there are just a couple of differences of opinion. I’ve heard the words—Eden is a treasure. I’ve heard it’s a gem. … That it’s famous worldwide. All that is true, and the Council knows that. It’s not like the Council just went to Eden Center in the past couple of months to find our restaurants. You’ve been there for years, and you’ve supported the Eden Center for years, and we appreciate that. But I’ll take you back to 40 years ago.

Forty years ago, a small part of … the Plaza 7 Shopping Center was called Eden. The center began to attract more and more Vietnamese tenants. It was suggested that we change the name of the whole Center to Eden Center by people in the Vietnamese community. We thought hard about that, and we did it. We adopted the name Eden Center. That is the community-chosen name for that shopping center.

Now back then, in the 1980s, if the community had said let’s name it “Little Saigon,” we probably would have done that. But now 40 years have passed. Eden Center has become well known everywhere… [T]he community in the 1980s wanted to differentiate themselves from all the other Little Saigons that were in the US, mainly in Orange County[, California] but elsewhere as well. I’ve been to most of them. They’re different, and Eden Center is different. It is a treasure. It’s a gem, and it’s different from every other place … called Little Saigon.

Now it’s a good thing… It’s a good thing for the landlord, it’s a good thing for the tenants, it’s a good thing for the community, Vietnamese and non-Vietnamese. I don’t see why we have to mess around with a good thing. It’s worked for 40 years. We’ve worked hard on it every day with the community, with I don’t know how many different community groups to hold events. We hold a federal trademark for the name. If anybody tried to open an Eden Center somewhere else, we’d file a lawsuit because it’s a special name.

But we have other tenants as well that aren’t Vietnamese. They are Korean and Thai. They’re Chinese. In fact, I don’t think people realize this, but 40 percent of the square footage at Eden Center is non-Vietnamese…

Now, you say that calling the area “Little Saigon” is not the same as renaming Eden Center, but we’re talking about the same piece of land, so I think that that’s not really right. If we’re going to market something, we need to market it under one name. We need to attract tenants there under one name, and it’s got to be Eden Center located in the City of Falls Church.

I’m going to talk about displacement for a moment. We tend to offer long leases with multiple options to tenants. Most of our leases can be extended at least 25 years …. There’s no danger of redevelopment. We can’t do it. Our hands are tied. We tied our own hands with our leases with the tenants. Between now and then, whenever redevelopment happens and I’ll say that’s eternity, but I know maybe it will happen one day, we need to run our shopping center, and we’ve done it successfully. We’ve done it in a way that it has become a gem. And that’s how we intend to continue to do it. But if redevelopment happens, I understand it has to be dealt with. Displacement has to be dealt with fairly, equitably, along with every other tenant, every other business in the City equally. …[W]e’re all businesses in the City. We all pay taxes. All the tenants in the City need to be treated fairly in the event of displacement. … [T]here’s a part of the plan that’s before you that suggests that the displacement measures would control things between now and the time of redevelopment. Now that, I think, is totally illegal. In fact, the landlord-tenant laws that exist control.

…[T]hrough the Chamber of Commerce, I have … helped write a lengthy tenant displacement manual … along with other people on the legislative committee, and we think it’s an excellent product that can help any tenant that gets displaced. The City, as well, can help tenants in ways other than giving money. They can offer expedited permitting. They can waive fees. They have an Office of Economic Development, and they can help people find new locations within the City. So there’s plenty that can be done. The issue of allocating money is difficult. And if the City ends up wanting to do that, it will raise taxes. It’s just a decision that the City has to make, but it should not be just for Eden Center. It should be across the board.

…[Regarding] Wilson Boulevard, please don’t put in a plan that it should be narrower. It’s the oxygen for Eden Center. We can’t make it three lanes. If I had my way, I’d make it eight. We have Saigon Boulevard, another street. Here’s our sign. (Holds up Saigon Boulevard street sign.) This [name] was approved by Council about 15 years ago. I think the signs got old. One of them was maybe stolen. We’re putting these back up along Wilson Boulevard, because we agreed with the City 15 years ago that [the street] should be Saigon Boulevard. So, again, we have a place that’s successful for everybody. We just want to keep a good thing going as long as possible—forever, I like to say. Enough panic has already been spread among the Vietnamese community about redevelopment. We’ve had enough. We hear it every day. “I hear Eden Center is closing.” Well, it’s not. I’ll say it one more time. We’re not going to redevelop. Our only plan is to … run the center. Improve it, beautify it, improve public facilities, work with the community, make a big mural. That, we’re already talking about doing. We’re studying expansion of public spaces as well. And, as far as the small area plan goes, we encourage the Council to pass it. We do have these concerns, but we have no demands. We would just like you to consider what our position is as well. Thank you for the time.