A proposal to build housing in the Mount Vernon District near the Huntington Metro Station is closer to being approved.
During a meeting last Wednesday (July 10), the Fairfax County Planning Commission recommended the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approve developer Capital Investment Advisors’ proposal for a 200-unit apartment building at the corner of Huntington Avenue and Metroview Parkway.
The site is part of roughly 6 acres of land rezoned and approved for a hotel and office building in 2012, Cathy Lewis, the zoning evaluation branch chief for the Department of Planning and Development, told the planning commission.
Part of the site was built out with The Parker, an apartment building completed in 2016, but the office and hotel were never built. Now, the developer wants to turn the remaining 370,000 square feet of vacant land that’s currently being used as an interim park into a 7-story, 85-foot-tall apartment building with retail on the first floor.
According to the application, the 211,580-square-foot building will provide 230 parking spaces and have 8,975 square feet of commercial space.
“This space will be limited to retail, restaurant, personal and business service uses and public uses,” Lewis said.
The ground-floor retail space will open up onto a public plaza space, where the developer plans to hold at least 12 events a year to draw the public to the area. Additionally, the applicant will provide an offsite park on Huntington Avenue.
“This publicly accessible park space will serve as an extension of the Cameron Run Greenway and will include seating shade structures and ornamental plannings,” Lewis said.
During the public hearing, resident Sarah Clough spoke in favor of the proposal, saying the region faces an acute housing crisis.
“There’s more people wanting homes than are available to either rent or purchase, and this gap between supply and demand, while not wholly responsible for the affordability crisis is a major contributor to it,” Clough said.
Non-residential uses were considered for the building’s second floor, but the developer commissioned a study that found it would not be economically feasible.
Bindu Mathur, chair of the Mount Vernon Council of Citizens’ Association planning and zoning committee, said the organization is pleased with the findings.
“We support the proposed development of the apartment complex with ground floor retail and a public use plaza. We do not support any second floor retail or commercial community uses,” Mathur said, adding that it’s not viable.
Resident Marietta Squire, however, argued that the proposal doesn’t help with the “severe parking problem” that area residents already face.
“This, in my opinion, is not an ideal layout, especially for the current residents in the area,” she said. “Bottom line is, they’re already not enough parking available for the current residents.”
The application will now go to the Board of Supervisors, which is scheduled to hold a public hearing on Sept. 24.
