A few changes under way in central Annandale

A few changes are under way in central Annandale, but nothing seems to be happening with some long-vacant buildings. 

A Cash for Gold shop opened at 7262 Columbia Pike, next to the T-Mobile store by the Little River Turnpike intersection. The building used to house a martial arts studio and, before that, an auto parts store.  

Cash for Gold buys gold and silver jewelry, gems, precious metals, coins, watches, and electronics. It’s not a pawn shop, says the owner Sinan Karakaya, who also owns a Cash for Gold store in Manassas.

The old white building at 7236 Columbia Pike is now an Ethiopian church. A vape shop in that spot lasted less than a year. Before that the building had been the longtime home of the Annandale Boys and Girls Club. 

Nothing seems to be happening with the large empty space at 7250 Columbia Pike, which used to be the Sunset Grille. Construction started in 2013. A plan for a restaurant fell through and that part of the building has been vacant ever since. The New York Pizza Factory, on the left side of the building, is expanding to the middle space. 

Meanwhile, 7224 Columbia Pike has been vacant since Annandale Florist closed at the end of 2012.

Around the corner, at 7300 Maple Place, the construction site is for the expansion of Hanjin Express, a package delivery service, that had been based in an old house. Part of the office building next door is being renovated for a health clinic.