After much delay, progress is now visible for two new restaurants coming to Reston Station’s Metro District. Both restaurants had been announced last year to open in early 2020, but with no formal updates on their status since. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a lot of uncertainty in the foodservice industry this year and it is possible the delays are due in part to the related recession.
Big Buns, a fast-casual burger and beer restaurant with two locations in Arlington, is under construction in the space between Starbucks and Sweet Leaf on the plaza level of the BLVD Reston Station building. Once completed, all retail space in the apartment highrise will be occupied.
The restaurant space at 1900 Reston Metro Plaza is also being worked on. It will be home to Matchbox, a wood-fired pizza restaurant with eight other locations in the Washington metropolitan area. The table-service restaurant chain recently filed for bankruptcy reorganization and closed some stores as a result, with the remainder being sold to Reston-based Thompson Hospitality. Nevertheless, building permits have been issued for Matchbox and construction seems like it will proceed as planned.
Matchbox will be the first retail occupancy in the building, around 5,500 square feet in size. Another unoccupied ground-floor space on the eastern corner has yet to find a tenant.