Fairfax County Just Approved a Walkable Centreville. Here's the Parcel I'd Actually Watch.
By Chris Colgan · The Colgan Team, powered by PLACE at Real Brokerage · August 2026
22+ years selling Northern Virginia real estate. Raised in Gainesville, 15 minutes from the Route 28 and 29 crossroads.
On June 23, 2026, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to adopt a new long-range plan for Centreville — roughly 2,700 acres reimagined around a walkable town center at Route 28 and Route 29. I've been selling in and around Centreville for 22 years, and the plan is aimed squarely at the one thing this town has always been missing.
Why it matters: Centreville has never had a nightlife problem it could solve, because it has never had a place to put one. The county just wrote the blueprint. Meanwhile, Bright MLS shows the exact housing type the plan wants to build — attached — sitting at a five-year inventory high with falling prices. Both facts are true at once, and nobody covering this story has put them side by side.
Driving the news
- The amendment is formally Plan Amendment 2022-III-BR1, known as the Centreville Study.
- The Board authorized the study on October 25, 2022. Staff built it with a Centreville Task Force and public input across 2024 and 2025, including surveys in Korean and outreach through Western Fairfax Christian Ministries and the Centreville Immigration Forum.
- The Planning Commission recommended adoption June 10, 2026. The Board adopted it June 23 on a motion from Sully District Supervisor Kathy Smith.
- Sully District Planning Commissioner Evelyn Spain described it as modernizing the county's vision for Centreville and setting a clear framework for future growth and reinvestment.
What Centreville actually is right now
Centreville sits about 20 miles west of Washington, D.C., where I-66, Route 28, and Route 29 converge. Census data puts it at 26,585 people in 1990 and 73,518 two decades later. That kind of growth built subdivisions, strip centers, and wide arterials — and no main street. Walk Score is 32. There is no Metro.
Here's what I'd tell you as somebody who's been working this market since 2003. Centreville's shopping is genuinely good. Between Centreville Square, Centre Ridge Marketplace, and Old Centreville Crossing, you can get almost anything you need without leaving the corridor. Growing up in Gainesville, we drove into Centreville to shop — Costco, Giant, all of it. Gainesville and Haymarket had gas stations. Centreville had everything.
What Centreville is missing is nightlife. And the restaurants have slipped. When I was a kid, Centreville had some of the best food in western Fairfax. That's changed. There's no district, no walkable block, nowhere you'd go at 9pm and stay. You eat and you drive home.
The other thing outsiders miss: Centreville's housing stock is unusually mixed for a suburb this size. Virginia Run has million-dollar single-family homes. Two miles away you've got townhouses in the $500s to $700s and condos under $350,000. Custom builders like Chantilly-based Premier Homes Group, which works in the $2M to $10M range, are putting $3M to $4M homes on individual lots here. That price spread inside one ZIP code is rare in Northern Virginia, and as you'll see below, it's the reason "the Centreville market" is a meaningless phrase in 2026.
Centreville
By the numbers: Centreville, June 2026
| Metric | June 2026 | Vs. June 2025 |
| Median sold price, all home types | $630,000 | +4.1% |
| Detached median | $980,500 | +6.9% |
| Townhouse median | $530,000 | −8.6% |
| Condo & co-op median | $348,500 | −14.5% |
| Active listings | 76 | up from 49 |
| Closed sales | 89 | +12.7% |
| Average days on market | 14 | flat |
| Average sold-to-original-list price | 100.5% | from 100.1% |
Source: Bright MLS via MarketStats by ShowingTime. Statistics calculated July 7, 2026. See all my Northern Virginia market reports.
What's actually in the plan
- A defined town center at the Route 28 and Route 29 crossroads, converting land previously planned for industrial use into walkable retail and public open space.
- Six opportunity areas that concentrate redevelopment around existing community focal points instead of scattering it across the corridor.
- Mixed-use land use guidance allowing housing over retail — the pattern that reshaped Mosaic District, Reston Town Center, and Reston Station.
- Pedestrian and bike connections across I-66, which currently splits Centreville in half.
- Potential county-owned affordable housing sites, including the Centreville Regional Library parcel.
Read this twice: A comprehensive plan tells builders what the county wants. It is not zoning, it is not a permit, and it is not funding. Nobody breaks ground because of this vote.
The parcel I'd actually watch
Everyone reporting this story is writing about the plan. I want to point you at a specific piece of dirt.
The Cinemark Centreville 12 at 6201 Multiplex Drive is one of the better amenities in this town — twelve screens, reclining seats, and the closest thing Centreville has to a night out. In November 2025, Bethesda-based Finmarc Management acquired it from EPR Properties as part of a two-property, $15.1 million deal.
Here's what matters. That theater sits on a roughly 12.5-acre parcel fronting Route 28, directly beside Centre Ridge Marketplace and near Centreville Square. Finmarc's principal said the immediate plan is to stabilize the asset. But a company representative also said all options are on the table, and that they're exploring alternative tenancy and land uses. Finmarc already owns Trinity Centre and Dulles Corner along the same Route 28 corridor.
So you have twelve and a half contiguous acres, on the main road, held by a developer with an assembled corridor position, inside a plan area that just received brand-new mixed-use guidance. Reporting on the acquisition noted the county's Centreville Suburban Center guidance contemplates residential density in the range of 16 to 20 units per acre, with complementary uses like a theater permitted. Run that math on 12.5 acres and you are looking at the most realistic first-mover town center site in Centreville.
My call: if a walkable Centreville happens in my career, it starts here or at the library site — not at some greenfield the county draws on a map. And there's the irony worth sitting with: the amenity that gives Centreville its only real night out is on the land most likely to become the district that finally gives it one.
The only piece with real money behind it
The Centreville Regional Library at 14200 St. Germain Drive opened in 1992 and is failing. County capital documents cite flooding in staff areas, recurring HVAC problems, and electrical wiring inadequate for patrons charging devices.
The county is exploring a public-private partnership to rebuild it as one building combining a new library with affordable housing. Estimated cost: $37 million, potentially financed through Economic Development Authority bonds in fiscal year 2029. The project was moved up from a planned 2032 library bond referendum because of the risk of a building system failure. A community meeting on the concept drew about 60 residents in April 2026.
Between the lines: the road fight
The most contested item is a potential future extension of New Braddock Road over I-66. The plan scaled it down from four lanes to two with sidewalks and bike facilities. Centre Ridge residents still oppose it and have pushed for pedestrian and bike bridges over Routes 28 and 29 instead.
County staff confirmed at the Planning Commission hearing that adopting the study does not approve the extension. Supervisor Smith went further at the June 23 hearing, saying she will "never support building this road" — while declining to release an easement the county has held for more than 50 years.
My read: that easement is not going away, and neither is this fight. If you own in Centre Ridge, expect a disclosure conversation on every resale for the next decade. It is manageable. It is not fatal to value. But pretending it isn't there is how deals fall apart at the inspection table.
Yes, but: don't buy for the Metro
The plan identifies a possible future Metro station and commuter parking garage along I-66 west of Trinity Parkway, tied to a hypothetical Orange Line extension. The plan itself says the final location requires further study.
There is no WMATA funding for it. Not appropriated, not programmed, not in a pipeline. My grandfather spent four decades in the Virginia State Senate and used to explain to me how brutal the land acquisition alone was on rail projects out here. Roads get funded years before rail does — Ashburn waited decades for Silver Line service. If you're underwriting a Centreville purchase on a Metro premium, you're underwriting a maybe that's likely 20-plus years out. Buy on today's fundamentals. Treat rail as free upside.
The split nobody else is reporting
Remember that unusually mixed housing stock? In June 2026 it behaved like two separate markets moving in opposite directions. The divide isn't by ZIP code. It's by property type.
Detached homes: still a seller's market
Median sold price of $980,500, up 6.9% year over year. Year to date, $919,950 versus $891,000 — up 3.2%. Only 21 active listings against 40 June closings. Homes averaged 15 days on market and sold at 100.7% of original list price.
Attached homes: tilting toward buyers
Townhouse median of $530,000, down 8.6% year over year. Condos at $348,500, down 14.5%. Active attached inventory hit 55 units — a five-year June high, up from 30 a year ago. New attached listings are up 17.4% year to date.
The metric that tells the real story
Contract ratio measures pending contracts per active listing. Above roughly 1.0, demand outruns supply and sellers hold leverage. Below it, supply outruns demand.
| Segment | Jun 2026 | Jun 2025 | 5-yr Jun avg |
| Detached | 1.05 | 1.63 | 1.92 |
| Townhouse | 0.85 | 1.26 | 1.38 |
| Condo & co-op | 0.67 | 0.64 | 1.45 |
Source: Bright MLS via MarketStats by ShowingTime, June 2026.
Every segment sits 39% to 54% below its five-year June average. Detached is still above 1.0. Townhouses and condos are not.
Here's the tension the county didn't address: the plan's core housing strategy is more attached and mixed-use product. That's the one segment of this market currently carrying five-year-high inventory, falling medians, and sub-1.0 contract ratios. Long-run walkability may absolutely reprice that product upward — that's exactly what happened around Mosaic and Reston Town Center. But anyone telling you this vote is an automatic tailwind for Centreville townhouse and condo values isn't reading the MLS.
A caution on the monthly numbers
June detached closings jumped from 14 to 40 month over month, and the median moved 20.7% with them. That's mix, not appreciation — a heavier month of high-end closings pulls the median hard. Year to date is the honest read: detached up 3.2%, townhouses down 1.7%, condos down 4.2%, all home types down 1.6% at a $600,000 YTD median. Any agent quoting you that 20.7% as a market trend is either careless or selling you something.
Neighborhood by neighborhood
Rough bands from what I'm seeing on the ground. Every one of these has its own micro-market, and the MLS medians above wash all of it together:
| Neighborhood | Type | Range |
| Bull Run | Townhouse | $400s–$600s |
| London Towne | Townhouse | $400s–$600s |
| Sully Station | Mixed | $500s–low $800s |
| Centre Ridge | Single-family | Low $700s–$1M+ |
| Virginia Run | Single-family | Low $700s–$1M+ |
| Stone Haven & custom infill | Custom | $1.5M–$4M |
Virginia Run is one of the most consistently requested neighborhoods I work in — it's the Centreville address people move to, not through. At the top end, custom builders are now delivering $3M to $4M homes on individual Centreville lots, which is a price point that essentially didn't exist here ten years ago.
What I'd do with this
- Selling a detached home: you still have leverage, but less than last year. Price it right on day one. At 15 average days on market and 100.7% of original list, correctly priced homes are getting full value — and overpriced ones are sitting into a rising inventory pool.
- Selling a townhouse or condo: you're competing against a five-year high in listings. Condition and pricing carry the entire outcome. Don't anchor to your neighbor's 2024 sale.
- Buying attached: this is the best negotiating position Centreville buyers have had in years. Selection is real and sellers are moving.
- Buying long-horizon: put your premium on proximity to the Route 28 and 29 core and the six opportunity areas. Property closest to a successful walkable core captures the amenity premium first and holds it longest.
Reality check: schools
At the June 23 hearing, an FCPS parent and teacher testified that Centreville High School already serves hundreds more students than it was designed for, and that Centre Ridge Elementary, Bull Run Elementary, and Liberty Middle are nearing capacity. The library housing project and any theater-site redevelopment both feed those schools.
Two things buyers should know that most listing descriptions won't tell you. First, FCPS just completed its first comprehensive boundary review in more than 40 years — approved January 22, 2026, affecting roughly 1,700 students across 46 schools, and phasing in for the 2026-27 school year. Adjustments to Bull Run Elementary were specifically put on hold pending the separate Skyview High School and Western Pyramids study, which covers the Centreville pyramid.
Second, Centreville High School sits at 6001 Union Mill Road in Clifton — not in Centreville proper — and is ranked 51st of 63 in the FCPS renovation queue, with planning funded by the 2021 bond and construction expected from the 2025 bond. Relief is coming, slowly. If school assignment drives your purchase, run the address through the FCPS Boundary Locator before you write an offer. Note that FCPS says recently approved changes may not yet appear there. Boundaries here shift by street.
The bottom line
This is a real, unanimous, decades-long commitment to a walkable Centreville. It's also a plan, not a groundbreaking. The library is the only piece with a dollar figure and a year attached, and the Route 28 theater parcel is the private-side site I'd watch hardest.
Detached Centreville is holding its value and then some. Attached Centreville is in the softest position it's been in five years, and it's the segment the plan proposes to expand. Both are true. Buy the house, the block, and the commute you want today — and let the town center be upside rather than the thesis.
Want your street's actual numbers?
I'll pull current Bright MLS comps for your specific neighborhood and tell you straight whether this plan helps or hurts your situation. No pressure, no pitch. Get your home's value →
Frequently asked questions
Did Fairfax County approve a Centreville town center?
What is the median home price in Centreville, VA?
Is Centreville a buyer's market or a seller's market in 2026?
Are Centreville home prices going down?
What are the best neighborhoods in Centreville, VA?
Is the Cinemark Centreville movie theater closing?
Is Centreville getting a Metro station?
Was the New Braddock Road extension approved?
Keep reading
- Data centers and the Northern Virginia land squeeze
- Dulles Airport expansion and what it means for western Fairfax
- Homes for sale in Centreville, VA
- Real Nova Network: weekly Northern Virginia breaking news
Sources
- Bright MLS, Local Market Insight for Centreville, VA, June 2026, via MarketStats by ShowingTime. Statistics calculated July 7, 2026.
- Fairfax County Department of Planning and Development — Centreville Study (PA 2022-III-BR1)
- FFXnow — Board of Supervisors adoption coverage, June 24, 2026
- FFXnow — Planning Commission recommendation, June 12, 2026
- FFXnow — Centreville library and affordable housing concept
- FFXnow — Centreville movie theater acquisition, November 2025
About the author. Chris Colgan leads The Colgan Team, powered by PLACE at Real Brokerage, a 33-agent Northern Virginia real estate team with over $1 billion in career sales and more than 800 five-star Google reviews. He has sold real estate across Fairfax, Prince William, Loudoun, Arlington, and Fauquier counties for more than 22 years and was raised in Gainesville, minutes from Centreville. His family has been part of Northern Virginia civic life for generations, including four decades of service in the Virginia State Senate.
The Colgan Team · info@colganteam.com · 571-437-7575 · colganteam.com
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