Crystal City Underground mall to close later this year

CRYSTAL CITY, Va. – After nearly 50 years, the remaining restaurants and retail shops in the Crystal City Underground mall will soon close for good. 

FOX 5’s Maureen Umeh says many of the businesses in the underground mall have steadily closed over the years and the property owners say keeping the facility open is no longer financially sustainable.

The underground mall opened back in September 1976 and was billed as a turn-of-the-century shopping village,

At its opening there were 40 stores and plans to expand, but over the years, business suffered.

Officials say foot traffic dropped off during the construction of National Landing and Amazon’s HQ2 headquarters developments.

That was made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

In October, most of the Crystal City Underground mall’s more than two dozen remaining tenants are slated to close.