The former Whole Foods space at 11660 Plaza America Drive now has a signed tenant. The German discount grocer Lidl has "just signed" a lease there, according to FFXnow, which drew on a site plan updated by the center's retail broker. Two days earlier, The Burn reported that the landlord had confirmed Lidl as the new anchor, and said there was no word yet on when the store would open.
Plaza America is changing on two schedules this fall. The small restaurant swap at the other end of the center already has county permits, and on Lidl's recent pace in Fairfax County, the grocery will likely take more than a year to open. For the coming year, the center will be shaped by the tenants in between.
A year without its original anchor
Plaza America opened in 1995, according to a Reston history timeline in the Connection Newspapers. Whole Foods moved in the following year and stayed until August 2025. That month it moved to The Spectrum at Reston Town Center, into a 46,711-square-foot store nearly twice the size of its old one. As of this month, the old storefront has been empty for about 14 months.
The gap between move-out and a signed lease is the first thing that sets Plaza America apart from the closest comparison. At Idylwood Plaza, Whole Foods' last scheduled business day was February 3, 2025. Federal Realty announced Lidl's lease there on May 13, 2025, about three months later. Plaza America took roughly a year to reach the same step. Even so, the deal shows Lidl favors former Whole Foods boxes. This would be its 13th store in Fairfax County, where FFXnow says the chain has been adding about one location a year.
The pizza swap is moving on a restaurant's clock
At 11642 Plaza America Drive, MOD Pizza told FFXnow that its final day of business would be September 30. That came just over a decade after the restaurant opened in 2016, and it was MOD's last location in Fairfax County. Andy's Pizza is taking the space. Last June the chain was named the D.C. region's Fast Casual Restaurant of the Year at the 44th annual RAMMYs. Cousins Emily and Andy Brown started the brand in December 2018 inside the Taste of Urbanspace food hall at Tysons Galleria. In FFXnow's report, a manager at that Tysons location said, "I had a lot of folks ask when we're coming to Reston." According to The Burn, the chain's website lists 14 locations across the greater D.C. market, so Reston could become number 15.
Fairfax County's permit records show Andy's work started well before the July announcement. Here is the record for permit ALTC-2026-00987, filed for "ANDY'S PIZZA" in the county's PLUS system:
- May 19, 2026: the application moves to "Awaiting Plans," with plans received the next day.
- Late May through August 2026: reviewers ask for corrections and sign off one by one, with the last approvals logged in August.
- Late September 2026: the commercial alteration permit for the 2,963-square-foot space is issued.
- October 5 and October 8, 2026: the mechanical and plumbing permits are issued. The mechanical filing covers the kitchen hood, makeup air and exhaust fans.
In July, FFXnow reported that Andy's expected to open by the end of this year. The permits show the build-out is cleared to go ahead. They don't set an opening date. Still, this 2,963-square-foot restaurant went from plans received to its first permit in about four months. The grocery box is on a longer timeline.
The grocery clock runs longer
Lidl has opened two stores in Fairfax County during the past year. Both were reuses of former big-box space, and both make useful measuring sticks.
| Store | Former tenant | Plan first reported | Opening day | Elapsed | Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Herndon, 2110 Centreville Road | Kohl's | April 18, 2024 | October 29, 2025 | about 18 months | about 28,988 sq ft |
| Idylwood Plaza | Whole Foods | May 13, 2025 | August 12, 2026 | about 15 months | 23,485 sq ft |
The Idylwood store ran slightly ahead of its first estimate. When the lease was announced in May 2025, FFXnow reported an expected opening in late 2026, and the doors opened in August. Both openings followed the same routine, according to Lidl's announcements: a 7:40 a.m. ribbon-cutting, with coffee and croissants for early arrivals.
Lidl hasn't given a date for Plaza America, and neither has the landlord. We also found no public renovation filing for the space. Still, the arithmetic is simple. If Plaza America moved at the pace of either recent store, counted from the late-August 2026 lease reports, Lidl would open somewhere between late 2027 and early 2028. That is an estimate based on those two stores, not a forecast, and a single announcement could change it.
The smaller spaces in between
Until the anchor opens, the center's day-to-day character depends on its smaller suites, and several of those are in play. According to FFXnow, the broker's site plan shows pending deals for two spaces. One sits next to the former Whole Foods. The other is beside Michaels and has been empty since Performance Bicycle Shop closed in 2019. Neither tenant has been named.
The same site plan lists four suites as available:
- Noodles & Company's space: 3,516 square feet
- Tropical Smoothie Cafe's space at 11684 Plaza America Drive: 1,303 square feet
- A second-floor suite at 11694 Plaza America Drive: 11,963 square feet, where the software company Macedon Technologies expanded its offices in 2020
- A new suite next to Citizens Bank: 1,995 square feet
"Available" here means a suite is being marketed, not that it's empty. FFXnow noted that Noodles & Company and Tropical Smoothie Cafe were still operating, and that it was unclear when their leases expire or whether they could stay on if no replacement signs. The Noodles & Company location page for 11648 Plaza America Drive currently shows daily hours from 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.
What's still open on a weekend this fall
The center's own directory lists Michaels, CVS, Total Wine, LOFT, Five Guys, Starbucks, Noodles & Company, Tropical Smoothie Cafe, Crumbl Cookies and Wonder, among others. It also still lists MOD Pizza. That's a reminder that the directory lags behind real changes, so check a business's own page before making a trip for one specific stop.
For anyone who used the old Whole Foods for weekly groceries, the closest current options mentioned in this story are the Whole Foods that moved to The Spectrum at Reston Town Center and the Lidl that opened last October at 2110 Centreville Road in Herndon. The next visible change at Plaza America is likely to be in the storefront at 11642, where Andy's Pizza has its kitchen permits in hand.
When a shopping center's anchor sits empty for a year and then signs a tenant, the people living nearby notice, and so do buyers deciding which corner of Reston fits their routine. If you're thinking about how changes like this one affect your own home's value, Marnie Schaar & Associates can walk you through it with a complimentary home valuation built on what's actually happening around your street.