It’s Falls Church Restaurant Week, and HBW is sinking its teeth into a new restaurant build. Come behind the scenes to hear about the newest GrillMarx Steakhouse & Raw Bar joining the neighborhood.
Falls Church is a dining destination with a food culture that ranges from Afghan to American and Greek to Thai. The city will celebrate its many offerings during The Falls Church Restaurant Week, January 31- February 9, 2025, and will add a new hot spot, the GrillMarx Steakhouse & Raw Bar this spring as HBW wraps up construction.
The upscale steak house is being outfitted on the ground floor of 455 Tinner Hill, a mixed-use building with condominiums and additional retail space. The building owners and restaurant team are new clients for us, with a commercial construction project that residents and neighbors are eagerly anticipating.
When finished, the 9,758 square feet restaurant will include a two-story dining room with two bars, a fresh seafood station, a large deck, and an outdoor seating area with a fire pit.
GrillMarx already has three operating locations in Maryland, in College Park, Olney, and Columbia. The new Falls Church location hopes to open on Mother’s Day weekend in May.
Beautiful Design, Detailed Finishings
The City of Fall Church is a hub of construction activity right now. The GrillMarx location is surrounded by other development projects. Yet, our team believes the restaurant’s concept, offering several different dining and entertainment experiences within the footprint, and on-trend design will set the stage for even more growth.
We’re really excited to see the bold design taking shape with each week of the project. The end space has an industrial feel with exposed concrete floors and ductwork. The high ceilings, open kitchen design, and mezzanine level give it an airy feel, while wood accents and a mosaic tile wall in the entry will bring in warmth and color. A monumental staircase will be a prominent architectural feature.
The space had large windows along the outside wall which will become three sets of double doors topped with transom windows that look out to the deck and down to the patio. When the string lights and speakers are installed, you can imagine how nice it will be to sit outside this summer.
Restaurants are challenging builds, and this one is no exception. There's a lot of structural detail and finish work that's going into this project. The kitchen is large, and the placement of the equipment is really important. We’re precise about electrical and gas lines because the lighting and angles of everything will be visible from every corner of the restaurant. The next few weeks will involve a flurry of trades for the final installations. There’s a lot of tile work to be done, and Trex decking and custom railings will be a big part of the outdoor work.
Partners, not Projects
For HBW, the GrillMarx location might be the first new restaurant of the year, but it’s just one of many restaurant and retail builds that leverage our attention to detail and strong working relationships.
We care about this project. We're on the phone with each other five or six times a day, going over minute details of how we will handle coordination between the trades and how we’ll handle complex installs. Behind the scenes, a tremendous amount of attention and effort goes into it. We’re just as anxious as the owners to make sure the concrete and steel blend in seamlessly with the wood beam and that the transom windows are just right, yet our focus isn’t the final product; it’s the happiness of our clients.
HBW looks for partners, not projects, so building a strong working relationship with everyone involved is part of our process. We live and die on these relationships so that we’re the first name clients think of when they dream of their next project.
Experience Matters
GrillMarx is the first project we’re collaborating on. Dave has a strong background in leading complex and detailed builds, including projects for NIH, and Matt recently returned to HBW after 20 years at a hospitality construction management firm. Together, we bring extensive experience to the Fall Church build – and that experience matters.
As we said, the finishes are an essential part of this project, like many of our restaurant construction projects. We need to communicate with every person on the job site every day for a project like this because nothing is standard. We’re using a mix of our skilled team members and subs we know and have worked with to ensure that everyone does their best work and delivers the quality that HBW is known for.
Once GrillMarx opens, our team looks forward to sitting down to a couple of steaks and putting the shucking station through its paces. It will be rewarding to take in all the colors and finishes that go into transforming a blank space into an impressive venue.
GrillMarx Steakhouse & Raw Bar won’t be ready for this year’s City of Falls Church Restaurant Week, but diners and neighbors can look forward to a great meal and a feast for the eyes when the doors open in the spring.
Matt Hudson is a project manager for HBW and has extensive experience in restaurant and retail construction management.
Superintendent David Whisman began his career as an electrician and now provides the coordination and oversight needed on complex construction projects.
The end of the year provides a perfect opportunity for reflection. We could summarize our wins month-by-month, put push-pins in maps of Virginia, Maryland, and D.C., or list all of the market sectors we’ve been part of this year. But instead, we’ll train a spotlight on the…
Learn more