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| Sterling Annex, 2022 |
[Update August 2023: This school has now been demolished. Check out Sterling Annex DEMO DAY 1]
I have been documenting the Sterling Annex here for a decade now. Wow. It's hard to look back at that first post I wrote and realize how much of a beating the building has taken since then.
Today, I have some updates to share I wasn't aware about until late last year (Thank you to the anonymous commenter who tipped me off!). In 2020, Belfort Furniture sold the Sterling Annex property to the Lindsay Automotive Group. Lindsay is a local car chain with locations all over the D.C. Metro Region. One of their locations, Lindsay Volkswagen of Dulles, happens to be just down the street. Lindsay's plan for the property is to build a car detailing facility there. The school building would be razed, but bricks would be saved to be reused in a "pocket park" on the property to memorialize the school. Throughout 2020 and 2021, Lindsay worked to change the zoning for the property from Planned Development -- Commercial Center (Community Center) to Planned Development - General Industry. The Board of Supervisors approved this change in October 2021. Since then, news on the property has been pretty quiet. We'll see what happens next.
Here's what 2022 has brought so far:
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| Front school entrance |
Most visibly from Shaw Road are the Lindsay cars parked on the property. Part of Lindsay's rezoning application involved being able to store vehicles within the front of the property.
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| On the front steps, looking toward the west. Tall grass, and parked cars. |
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| Former gravel parking lot behind annex now a car storage lot. |
The metal machinery on the backside of the roof has now been removed. Their wooden bases still remain.
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| Wooden bases on the roof (seen below the chimney) |
And then there are the power lines. Every time I've visited the school, a couple powerlines have kept the school connected to the power grid. What they powered, I couldn't tell you, nor would I feel safe trying to find out. In the past year, the power lines have been cut.
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| Cut power lines |
The flooded basement stairs' water level is at its lowest to date. So much so, I was able to go down them and peek through a door I've never seen open.
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| Flooded stairs still flooded, but an open door beckons. |
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| Down the stairs. Plywood and debris are scattered about. |
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| Looking through the doorway. The basement is utterly flooded. |
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| Looking through a broken window in the auditorium |
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| Faded couches and creeping ivy. More roof machinery removed in the top right. |
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| To get to the far side of the building, you have to duck under branches. It feels very enclosed over here now. |
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| Former playground area |
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| Accessibility ramp not very accessible at this time |
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| My favorite door, being surrounded by ivy |
Very curious, someone has set up small animal shelters in this area.
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| Animal shelter by the door |
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| Other animal shelters set up to the right of the door |
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| A camera on the fence by the animal shelters |
So, there you have it. A lot of little interesting moves are happening around Sterling Annex. Can't wait to see what the next year brings.
Sources:
Oct 5, 2021 Loudoun County Board of Supervisors meeting video
July 21, 2021 Loudoun County Planning & Zoning Memorandum
July 21, 2021 Loudoun County Planning & Zoning Memorandum
Loudoun County Government Parcel Information - 22182 Shaw RD
The anonymous commenter on last year's post -- thank you again!
