County presents concept for a cafe/wine bar and outdoor dining at Laurel Hill; ARB raises design and height questions

Fairfax County staff and project architects presented a workshop concept on June 11 for a new tenant and outdoor dining installation at Laurel Hill’s Liberty Market; the item remained in workshop status as the board requested additional design detail.

Mr. Perkins, representing the county, said the county has executed a lease for the final vacant space and introduced Benjamin Keaney, the tenant architect, who described an interior fit-out with a mezzanine and an exterior, pre-engineered aluminum structure to create a flexible outdoor dining area. The tenant concept—Cell Block Social—was described as an all-day food-and-beverage operation, from coffee in the morning to wine service in the evening, with the outdoor structure designed to be transparent and to avoid touching the historic building facades.

Board members welcomed the activation opportunity but raised questions about whether the outdoor dining should include seasonal enclosures (glass or motorized roll-down walls), the proposed ceiling height for the outdoor structure (noted in plans as 86 inches), and how the feature would visually relate to the gabled historic roofs. Several members suggested increasing the structure’s height or using a sloped roof to improve ventilation and user comfort and to step the canopy so it does not compete with historic elevations.

The workshop concluded with the board asking the applicant to return with more fully developed details on enclosure strategy, final materials, and section drawings that show the structure’s height relationship to adjacent facades. No vote was taken.