Tona Coffee, an Ethiopian coffee shop, is moving ahead with its café on the ground floor of The Mark at Dulles Station, the apartment building at 2323 Dulles Station Boulevard in Herndon. The owners filed for a Fairfax County permit on September 22 to install the café’s heating and ventilation.
The Burn first reported the shop in July, when the only public detail was a “brewing soon” sign in the window. Tona has not announced an opening date.
Tona will serve Ethiopian coffee a few doors from an Ethiopian market
Tona’s motto is “From the birthplace of coffee,” a nod to Ethiopia, the country where coffee originated. On Tona’s Facebook page, the owners describe their product as authentic Ethiopian coffee. They have not published a menu or hours yet.
The café will share the building’s retail row with Tensu Ethiopian Restaurant & Market, a small grocery with a few tables and a short menu of dishes such as kitfo and awaze tibs. Once Tona opens, residents of The Mark will have Ethiopian coffee and Ethiopian groceries on their own block.
Voodoo, NH44 and Huey Magoo’s have opened or started building nearby this year
Three other businesses on the same stretch of Herndon, south of the Dulles Toll Road between the Herndon and Innovation Center Metro stations, have opened, won a license or started construction this year:
- Voodoo Brewing Co. Down the street at Makers Rise, Virginia ABC issued the taproom’s license this week, and owner Curry Lee expects to open in early October. We toured the taproom on September 17 and wrote about its murals, pinball machines and hidden door.
- NH44 Indian Brewing Co. The brewery opened in June at Arrowbrook Centre, about two miles east on Sunrise Valley Drive.
- Huey Magoo’s. The chicken tender chain started construction on its first Northern Virginia restaurant at Arrowbrook, and the franchise team told The Burn it is targeting a December opening.
Developers are adding hundreds of homes around Innovation Center station
Crimson Partners opened Makers Rise, with 356 apartments, in 2023. Across the street from Voodoo, DSVO Dulles is building a 510-apartment building on the last open parcel of Dulles Station. In August the Board of Supervisors approved 98 townhouses at Coppermine Commons, a short drive away on Sunrise Valley Drive, to replace a vacant office building.
Before Metro opened Innovation Center station in 2022, this part of Herndon was mostly office parks and rental apartments. Once Tona and Voodoo open, residents will be able to walk to a coffee shop in the morning, a taproom at night and an Ethiopian market in between. Buyers weighing a townhouse or condo near Innovation Center station will have more places within walking distance than they did a year ago.
Watch Tona’s Facebook page for an opening date
- Where: The Mark at Dulles Station, 2323 Dulles Station Boulevard, Herndon, on the ground floor.
- When: No date yet. Tona’s Facebook page is the likeliest place for an announcement.
- Getting there: Innovation Center station on the Silver Line is a short walk away.
See something missing or wrong? Email us at [email protected] and we will check it and update the post.
