Reston has seen a steady uptick in development over the past decade, fueled primarily by an influx of housing, new Fairfax County data shows.
The county recently updated its Reston Data Visualization Project — now called Reston Snapshots — with data collected from 2023 and the addition of a land use hub that provides an overview of the area’s progress toward fulfilling the Reston Comprehensive Plan’s vision of a more mixed-use, transit-oriented community.
Launched in early 2021 with the introduction of a transportation-focused hub, the online data platform is intended to give the public a transparent, accessible look at development and activity trends in Reston, particularly in the Wiehle, Reston Town Center and Herndon transit station areas (TSAs).
Since its launch, the platform has also added hubs with information on zoning applications and urban parks.
“The goal of Reston Snapshots is to share TSA data connecting the Comprehensive Plan’s planning principles and guidance to the evolution of transit-oriented neighborhoods featuring pedestrian activities and connections that are safe, comfortable, engaging and attractive,” the county said in a June 26 press release announcing the update.
According to the land use hub, Reston now has 41.4 million square feet of development in its TSAs — an increase of 7.1 million square feet from 2015, shortly after the Wiehle Metro station opened in 2014, and 4.4 million from 2020.
While there has been some additional commercial development, including over 2 million square feet of new office space, the most significant growth has come in the residential sector, which has expanded from just under 8.2 million square feet in 2015 to 13.3 million square feet, as of May 18, 2023.
In Reston Snapshots, the county notes that residential and hotel development in Reston along the Dulles Corridor was limited for decades by covenants that dated back to Reston’s founding in the 1960s.
“Due to these covenants, at the time of Plan adoption in 2014, development patterns in the Reston TSAs consisted primarily of segregated land uses,” the county said. “The covenants were voluntarily lifted in 2011 by property owners for the area known as the Reston Center for Industry and Government, creating the opportunity for the desired mixed-use development in the TSAs.”
Updated again last September, the Reston Comprehensive Plan calls for a more balanced approach to land use in the TSAs “to further maximize rail use and reduce dependence on automobiles,” Reston Snapshots says.
To achieve that balance, it recommends a 50/50 split in residential and non-residential development in the core of each transit station area, transitioning toward 75% residential, 25% non-residential closer to established commercial and residential neighborhoods.
Commercial development in the TSAs still outweighs housing, but the new data indicates that the uses are starting to even out, as developments like Comstock’s Blvd at Reston Station apartments, Faraday Park and The Edmund at Halley Rise come online.
More housing is on the way too, with both Reston Station and Halley Rise expected to deliver more multi-family units next year.
Since the earlier Reston Comprehensive Plan was adopted in 2014, Fairfax County has approved over 32 million square feet of new development, as of Dec. 31, 2023. More than half of that (17 million) is residential, followed by office (12 million) and about 1 million each for retail and hotel uses.
Planning is underway on the long-awaited Reston Town Center North development, and just yesterday, Boston Properties filed a new plan for the next phase of its town center expansion to the south.
Though the Herndon Metro station hasn’t seen much activity, other than Woodland Park Crossing and the Reston Arboretum townhomes, the Town of Herndon approved a plan this spring solidifying its vision for development north of the station.
