"I thought I would be sad, but I like it more," Peggy Ngo told FFXnow in June. She was talking about the new home of the Chesterbrook Barber Shop at 6262-F Old Dominion Drive. The shop had operated inside Chesterbrook Shopping Center since 1967.
Four months later, the center's owner made a very different kind of announcement. On October 14, Federal Realty said Glenwood's had signed a lease for a 7,000-square-foot restaurant at Chesterbrook. It will be the restaurant's first Northern Virginia location. Since 2021, Chesterbrook has been rebuilt for daytime errands, workouts, skin care and quick lunches. What it still lacks is a restaurant designed for a long evening out, and that piece is scheduled for fall 2027.
What the center was when Federal Realty bought it
Tysons Reporter covered the sale in May 2021 and listed the tenants at the time: Safeway, Starbucks, Walgreens, Bank of America, BB&T Bank, Mylo's Grill, New Star Asian Bistro and Playful Pack. Safeway had anchored the center since 1965. It was a neighborhood strip of the usual kind: groceries, a pharmacy, two banks and a couple of casual places to eat.
By September 2022 the old Rite Aid space, 9,764 square feet, was empty. FFXnow described the growing vacancies as intentional remerchandising by the new owner. It also reported that the planned work was a modernization of facades, storefronts, landscaping, lighting and outdoor gathering spaces, carried out in phases, and not a mixed-use redevelopment. The buildings would stay. What would change was who rented them.
What filled the space, in order
The renovation began in fall 2022 and cost $8.5 million. According to FFXnow's October 2025 report, it covered new facades, new lighting and outdoor spaces, repaving, pollinator gardens and landscaping beds. New tenants arrived while the work was going on:
| Opened | Business | What it added |
|---|---|---|
| Fall 2022 | Kosmo Nail Bar | Nail salon |
| March 6, 2023 | South Block | Juice and smoothie bar |
| June 18, 2024 | SkinSpirit | Skin care clinic |
| June 20, 2024 | Bluemercury | Beauty retail |
| November 21, 2024 | Apricot Lane | Women's fashion |
| January 18, 2025 | Framebridge | Custom framing |
| March 2025 | Sorn Thai | Thai restaurant |
| June 2, 2025 | Small Door Veterinary | Membership vet clinic |
| July 17, 2025 | Sassanova | Fashion boutique, first Virginia store |
| Late 2025 | Sweetgreen | Fast-casual salads |
Call Your Mother ran a mobile deli at Chesterbrook starting in spring 2023 before moving into a permanent shop, and J. McLaughlin joined around the same period. Federal Realty's current directory for the center also lists CorePower Yoga, Potomac Pilates, Tutoring Club of McLean, Bearded Goat Barber and Chesterbrook Cleaners, alongside Safeway, Starbucks, Mylo's Grill, Playful Pack and Bank of America from the 2021 roster.
Look at the hours those businesses keep. Yoga, Pilates, the vet, the nail bar, the skin clinic, the framer, the boutiques and a salad counter all do most of their trade between morning and early evening. Sorn Thai and Mylo's Grill serve dinner. Nothing on the list was built around a long evening out.
The table that closes the gap, and when it arrives
Glenwood's will fill that gap. Blueridge Restaurant Group developed the concept, and it began as Stanford Grill in Columbia, Maryland, in May 2010. It later added Rockville and Owings Mills, and all three locations were renamed Glenwood's in 2024 after the Howard County town. FFXnow reports the menu runs from sushi to steak and burgers.
The McLean restaurant is planned at a different scale from anything else in the center:
- About 170 seats and 90 full- and part-time jobs
- Nightly live entertainment
- An outdoor patio and valet parking
- A private dining room with a temperature-controlled, floor-to-ceiling wine display
- A location at the southern end of Chesterbrook, near Small Door Veterinary
Valet parking and a nightly performer make this an evening destination, the first one this version of Chesterbrook has had. The timeline is long, though. Construction is expected to start in early 2027, with a target opening of fall 2027. As of this week, that is roughly a year away.
Surfside, the other restaurant on the directory, also isn't open yet. The beach-themed Mexican restaurant is planned for 6218 Old Dominion Drive and will share a freestanding building with Sweetgreen. Federal Realty had once expected a summer 2026 opening, and it had no updated timeline when FFXnow asked on October 14. Both names are on the leasing directory today, but neither is serving food yet.
The original tenant moved next door
The Chesterbrook Barber Shop was one of the center's original tenants, and FFXnow reported that Federal Realty reportedly declined to renew its lease after buying the property. Peggy Ngo took over the shop about 15 years ago from the late Ernie Tyrell. She runs it the way it has long been run, with modest prices and close ties to customers, and FFXnow describes it as a longtime choice for local families, seniors and retired military members.
Her customers stepped in. More than 200 people signed a letter explaining what the shop means to the neighborhood. Customers with commercial law, real estate and construction backgrounds helped Ngo look for a new space and set up a new website. The shop held its grand reopening on June 14, 2026, in the strip next to Chesterbrook. Its neighbors there include Tennis Topia and Fonts Books & Gifts.
So this stretch of Old Dominion Drive now has two blocks: the renovated center, with its boutiques, wellness studios and a dinner restaurant on the way, and the strip next door, where a barber shop dating to 1967 sits beside a tennis store and an independent bookstore and gift shop.
Where McLean's evenings and weekends happen until then
Until Glenwood's opens, McLean's evening and weekend gatherings happen elsewhere. In April the McLean Revitalization Corporation, a volunteer-led nonprofit, ran the community's first McLean Restaurant Week from April 12 to 19. Among the 23 participating restaurants listed by FFXnow were Peter Chang McLean, Listrani's, Fleming's Prime Steakhouse, Cafe Tatti, Rocco's Italian and Sho Sushi & Izakaya. The next few weeks bring these dates:
- Saturday, October 31, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The McLean Fresh Farmers Market at 6888 Elm St. holds its last Saturday of the season.
- Saturday, October 31, 10 a.m. to noon. The McLean Community Center's Boo-tiful Blooms pumpkin flower-arranging class meets at 1234 Ingleside Ave.
- Saturday, October 31, 5 to 8 p.m. The free Festival of Frights & Trunk or Treat at the Old Firehouse, 1440 Chain Bridge Rd., brings music, games, food, contests and candy.
- Saturday and Sunday, November 14 and 15. The McLean Antiques Show & Sale marks its 50th anniversary at the McLean Community Center. Saturday opens at 10 a.m. with a free lecture in the Alden Theatre by interior designer Josh Hildreth on using antiques in modern homes. Admission is $11, children 17 and under get in free, and the ticket covers both days. Bringing canned food for SHARE of McLean takes $1 off.
On Halloween, the market's final morning on Elm Street and the evening trunk-or-treat at the Old Firehouse fall on the same Saturday.
If changes like the ones at Chesterbrook have you thinking about what your own corner of McLean will look like in a few years, The Dawn Wilson Group is glad to talk it through with you. Let's connect. Schedule a consultation or request a home valuation.
