Wendy’s in the Penn Daw area closes its doors for good

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The scent of burgers and fries still lingered outside the restaurant, but the customers pulling into the parking lot hoping for a Baconator or Frosty found a dark and empty building on Wednesday evening.

The Wendy’s at the corner of Richmond Highway and Fairview Drive in the Penn Daw area is closed for forever, soon to be knocked down to make way for a large development. A spokesman for NPC International, the company who owns most D.C.-area Wendy’s, confirmed that Tuesday was the restaurant’s day in business.

The restaurant, a longtime Route 1 fixture at 6329 Richmond Highway, had been in business since at least the late 1970s, according to an image on the Southeast Fairfax Development Corporation’s website

The Wendy’s building will eventually be demolished to make way for the new Kings Cross multifamily development, which was approved by the county board earlier this fall. Three other buildings on same block are headed for the same fate as Wendy’s, including a Pizza Hut that’s been closed since 2015, another building that was long a restaurant but most recently a car title business, and American Tukong Martial Arts Academy, which is the only business still operating. 

American Tukong, located at 6319 Richmond Highway, will soon be moving to the Beacon Center, in the space where Payless Shoe Source used to be located. An exact date hasn’t been set yet, but owner Joy Kim said they will need to move by December. 

Eventually, American Tukong is hoping to build a new school in the Gum Springs area, but that move is subject to a rezoning application that is still in progress. 

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