If you have driven past Plaza America lately and noticed something feels different, you are not imagining it. MOD Pizza is closing its Reston location for good on September 30, after nearly ten years at 11642 Plaza America Drive. Taking over that space is Andy’s Pizza, a regional favorite with serious momentum behind it.
Why MOD Pizza is leaving
A MOD Pizza spokesperson confirmed the closure directly, thanking the Reston community for its support over the last decade. The company did not give a detailed reason, but this fits a pattern. MOD has been quietly pulling back across Northern Virginia over the past few years, closing locations in Vienna, Herndon, Fairfax City, Ashburn, and Greenbriar. Once the Reston store closes, the chain’s remaining presence in this immediate area disappears, with its nearest locations left in Woodbridge and Gainesville.
This is not really a Reston story on its own. It is part of a broader shift happening across build your own pizza and fast casual dining right now, where a few national chains are consolidating while regional favorites expand into the space they leave behind.
What is replacing it
Andy’s Pizza is stepping into the MOD Pizza space, and it is arriving with a strong reputation already built. The chain started at Tysons Galleria’s Taste of Urbanspace food hall in December 2018, founded by cousins Emily and Andy Brown. It struggled through the pandemic like everyone else, reopened in October 2020, and then took off. Its traditional cheese pizza won an international competition within a year of reopening, and the brand has picked up a RAMMY award, one of the region’s top honors for restaurants, on top of more than a dozen locations now open across the DC area.
The Reston build out is planned at just under 3,000 square feet with seating for around 100 guests, roughly the same footprint MOD Pizza had, but reconfigured for Andy’s New York style slices, whole pies, and the sides that have built its following.
What this means for Plaza America
Retail turnover like this tends to worry people at first glance, but a swap from a struggling regional chain to an award winning one with proven demand is a good sign, not a bad one. Plaza America has stayed a steady, well trafficked shopping destination in Reston for years, anchored by a strong retail and dining mix. A restaurant with Andy’s track record moving in usually means the landlord sees continued strength in that location, not weakness.
For residents of the Plaza America area and the neighborhoods that use this shopping center as their go to spot, this is one to watch for on opening day. Pizza people tend to show up in force for a name this well known, so expect lines when it opens.
The bottom line
MOD Pizza’s last day in Reston is September 30. Andy’s Pizza is expected to move in after that with a full renovation. I will keep this post updated with an opening date once the build out wraps. If you are watching the Plaza America area as a place to buy or sell, retail momentum like this is exactly the kind of signal worth factoring into your timing, and I am glad to talk through it.
Nikki Lagouros is a REALTOR® with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices PenFed Realty, serving buyers and sellers across Northern Virginia since 2016.