An Arlington-based developer has proposed demolishing a large office building in Oakton and replacing it with 139 townhomes.
Property owner Flint Hill Propco LLC, an affiliate of Network Realty Partners, aims to replace the 183,000-square-foot office building and the surrounding parking lot at 3201 Jermantown Road in the Flint Hill Office Park, according to an application recently submitted to Fairfax County.
Constructed in 1984, the 8-story Three Flint Hill office building was renovated in 2011 and is 67% leased, according to Network Realty Partners’ website. However, the developer says the building has experienced the same decline in demand as other non-transit-oriented suburban office parks.
“This project provides the County residents with much needed additional housing, without the cost of removing existing housing,” land use attorney David Gill wrote in a statement of justification on the developer’s behalf. “The office uses being removed are underperforming and will better serve the County’s objectives as residential uses.”
The proposed development consists of 116 stacked townhouse units and 23 traditional townhouse units. It also includes plans for urban park spaces, a “small commercial area” and 2.3 parking spaces per unit, which would give each home two garage spaces and total 336 spaces altogether.
The developer has also committed to making several units affordable, in accordance with the county’s affordable dwelling unit policy, but the exact number isn’t specified in the application.
“The project will provide traditional townhouses, along with stacked townhouses in an urban format with rear-loaded units off alleyways,” the applicant’s statement of justification says. “By blending efficient family style unit designs, pedestrian first principals [sic] and a distributed and activated open space approach, the project will create a desirable urban neighborhood strategically located within walking distance of multiple parks and recreation amenities, several schools, and near to transportation nodes.”
While this proposal focuses on redeveloping a single 7-acre parcel, the developer acknowledged that it would be coordinated with a separate proposal from McLean-based A&A Properties, which could build several hundred residential units to the south at 3211 Jermantown Road and 10530 Rosehaven Street.
A&A Properties filed an application with the county seeking to replace one office building and convert another in November 2020. However, the Fairfax County Planning Commission voted unanimously in January 2023 to defer the project indefinitely.
County records suggest the project may have been revived. While the application’s status is still listed as “deferred indefinitely,” a public hearing before the planning commission appears to be scheduled for Sept. 18.
Submitted on May 1, Network Realty Partners’ development proposal hasn’t been officially accepted by county planners yet, so public hearings haven’t been scheduled.