[1] It is located at the intersection of Glebe Road and Wilson Boulevard in the Ballston neighborhood of Arlington County, Virginia, two blocks from Ballston–MU station on the Washington Metro's Orange and Silver lines.

[9] The store's façade included a massive three-story glass wall containing 87 10x14ft panels that were used to post community messages, becoming a local landmark.

The mall was considered so futuristic that the United States Information Agency and the BBC jointly produced a half-hour documentary about it, titled "Report From America: Parkington Shopping Center.

[14] Beginning that year, Arlington County embarked on a $100 million renovation project and expansion of the single-story outdoor shopping center to an enclosed, multi-story mall totaling 530,000 square feet (49,000 m2), in limited partnership with May Centers, a subsidiary of The May Department Stores Company, which had acquired Hecht's, the original developer.

The expansion added a 120,000 sqft JCPenney anchor store and brought the mall from 1 to 4 stories of retail, with a 9-story office tower above.

The vacant Macy's Furniture anchor store on the mall's east side was demolished and replaced with a new 22-story, 406-unit apartment tower called Origin Ballston.

[26] On September 14, 2019, the Arlington County Police Department was dispatched to the mall due to reports of a mass shooter.

It was suspected to be a prank, but it was later found out that someone misinterpreted the line "Pennywise has sharpshooter activated," while they were watching the movie It Chapter Two at the theatre.