The old Christian Science Church at 1509 Collingwood Road in Fort Hunt closed years ago, and sat empty until recently. Now bulldozers are reworking this site into the community of Collingwood Chase, a seven-lot subdivision.

"It came down fast," said John Neer, a longtime resident who lives right down the street.

When it was a church, it was one of those places that just became part of the landscape to Neer but now it's part of the change that's happening all around Mount Vernon. On the Fairfax County General Parcel Report, this site is listed as not in a commercial revitalization district, but go west about two miles and Supervisor Dan Storck's "Embark Richmond Highway," is coming together.

This plot of land is three acres, zoned R-3 and it is assessed at $1,572,960, according to tax records. There are plans to build seven houses on the three-acre plot. To Neer, it looks a little smaller from the street. "They can squeeze maybe three or four houses in there," he said. 

The new owner and developer is D R Horton, Inc. of Annapolis, Maryland.

There are currently turn lanes from Collingwood Road to the property and at this time, there don’t seem to be transportation improvements involved, but the roads around that immediate area can get challenging at night, Neer said.

In years past, a resident that lives a few doors down used to be known for extravagant holiday light displays, and in its heyday, those displays attracted sightseers from all around but the homeowner toned it down so that the holiday light-seeing traffic has relented.