The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors on March 19 unanimously granted Compass Coffee LLC a special exception to install a coffee shop with two drive-through lanes at a former BB&T Bank branch in the Falls Church area.
The property is located at 7393A Lee Highway (Route 29) and occupies 0.55 of an acre in the Shops at West Falls Church shopping center. The existing 2,552-square-foot freestanding building has three drive-through lanes and surface parking.
Compass Coffee will retain two of those drive-through lanes, using one for static orders (a menu board and speaker will be provided) and the other only for mobile and online orders. The third current drive-through lane between those two lanes will be used for staging and delivery of coffee and other items and beverages.
There will be sufficient space to stack up to 14 vehicles in the drive-through lanes, as the company will convert the northernmost traffic aisle to westbound-only traffic.
The company will not increase the building’s square footage or height and will continue to use the shopping center’s existing stormwater-management system.
Compass Coffee will contribute $11,587 toward future construction of a 10-foot-wide trail along Route 29, which will replace the current 4-foot-wide sidewalk.
“This is a very-much-needed amenity in the area,” said Supervisor Dalia Palchik (D-Providence), who noted the location would be Compass Coffee’s 17th in the Washington area.
Compass Coffee was founded in 2014 in the District of Columbia’s Shaw neighborhood by two former U.S. Marine Corps veterans who had served together in Afghanistan, she added.
