SFDC Announces Winners of the 2017 Mary Thonen Richmond Highway Beautification Awards
First Place: Cherry Arms Apartments
On Wednesday, December 6, the Southeast Fairfax Development Corporation presented The 2017 Mary Thonen Richmond Highway Beautification Awards. The annual award program recognizes local establishments for their outstanding contributions to Richmond Highway beautification in the form of landscape improvements. This annual award was named to honor a community champion and long-serving board member, the late Mary Thonen.
Each year, ten businesses are selected as finalists for the Mary Thonen Awards, with the top three receiving special recognition from SFDC. Outgoing SFDC President and future Mount Vernon District Planning Commissioner, Walter Clarke, presented this year’s awards along with Lee District Supervisor Jeff McKay. Mount Vernon District Supervisor Dan Stock, Delegate Paul Krizek, and James Migliaccio, Lee District Planning Commissioner, also attended. The top three awardees for 2017 are:
- First Place: Cherry Arms Apartments, of Hybla Valley
- Second Place: Mount Vernon Square Apartments, of Hybla Valley
- Third Place: Mount Vernon Plaza Shopping Center (Federal Realty Investment Trust), of Hybla Valley
The remaining seven finalists received certificates for display at their businesses. Those seven finalists are:
- City Side Apartments, of Huntington/North Gateway
- Kentucky Fried Chicken, of Hybla Valley
- Montebello, of Huntington/North Gateway
- Red Roof Inn, of Huntington/North Gateway
- The Beacon at Groveton, of Beacon Hill
- The Mehr Borthers Sunoco, of South County
- Washington Square Apartments, of South County
“I would like to congratulate this year’s winner, Cherry Arms Apartments, for their magnificent landscape improvements,” said Edythe Kelleher, Executive Director of SFDC. “The Mary Thonen Awards recognize businesses that go the extra mile to make their properties, and Richmond Highway, beautiful. This is our way of saying ‘Thank you.’ Congratulations to this year’s winners.”
 Second Place: Mount Vernon Square Apartments |
 Third Place: Mount Vernon Plaza Shopping Center |