Del Ray's Bean Creative Is Closing, Building To Be Sold

ALEXANDRIA, VA—Bean Creative, a web, mobile and app developer based in Del Ray, is closing and will sell its building. The business at 2213 Mount Vernon Avenue has operated since 1997.

A message from owners Layla Masri and Keith Soares said they listed their property in light of the Amazon and Virginia Tech announcement as an ideal time to sell the building. But they ultimately made the decision to close after Masri's cancer scare. Months of tests and procedures determined she was cancer-free, but the owners say "we realized we wanted to explore other avenues for creative fulfillment (and maybe take a break from working with a spouse and talking business 24/7)." The owners said there had been interest in an acquisition of the agency, but there was never a right fit.

The building could become home to an expansion of the nearby Madison Day School, Washington Business Journal reported. Bean Creative had an asking price of $3 million for its building and lot, and the parties are reportedly making a deal.

The agency has served major clients such as Verizon, PBS, Dr. Seuss, Library of Congress, the Smithsonian Institution and "Weird Al" Yankovic. The adjacent lot, Bean Creative Field, has hosted neighborhood activities like the Spooky Bean Halloween attraction during Del Ray's Halloween parade.

Bean Creative is not taking new clients but will complete projects for existing clients through June and others by the end of 2019. The agency is helping staff find new positions and transfer clients to other agencies.

"We began as a side hustle and then a home-based business before growing into a full-fledged studio in the heart of Del Ray, Alexandria," Masri and Soares state on their website. "Other than our amazing kids, creating and nurturing Bean Creative as a top DC digital agency has been our proudest accomplishment."