University seeks to open new campus in Herndon office buildings

Fairfax University of America, an accredited higher education institution, is looking for a new campus in Herndon.

The institution — which offers graduate and undergraduate degrees in business administration, management information system, computer sciences and other fields — is seeking the Town of Herndon’s permission to take over three office buildings on Grove Street.

The application, which is set to go before the Town of Herndon’s Planning Commission tonight (Monday), proposes that the college would operate at 500, 555 and 585 Grove Street, accommodating roughly 295 students.

Roughly 71,000 square feet of existing office space would be repurposed to serve as classrooms, teacher offices and related amenity space, according to the application.

The property would have to be rezoned from commercial services uses to business uses.

“The applicant believes that the office climate has been evolving over the past few years and this evolution has resulted in large amounts of vacancy,” the application says.

Existing businesses in the buildings would remain.

So far, town staff said they generally support using the site as a post-secondary education campus because of the layout of the buildings and their central location in the town.

“Staff has been working with the applicant to address site concerns through updates to the [Generalized Development Plan],” staff said in a report. “Staff issued a comment letter expressing concerns with accessibility and circulation.”

Fairfax University’s campus is currently located at 4401 Village Drive in Fairfax.

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