Construction has commenced on an affordable housing project in Tysons that the developer, local officials and their financial partners touted yesterday (Wednesday) as literally and metaphorically groundbreaking.
With two cranes looming above and excavators rumbling around the cleared site in the background, representatives from SCG Development, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, Amazon and more shoveled some dirt to formally celebrate the start of work on Somos at McLean Metro, which will deliver two apartment buildings with 456 workforce dwelling units (WDUs).
Combined with The Exchange at Spring Hill, a 516-unit apartment complex that broke ground in western Tysons in December, Somos will not only make a sizable dent in the county’s quest to add 10,000 more affordable units by 2034, but it will do so in an area with a growing population and high housing costs.
“[That’s] 1,000 units in one of the currently most unaffordable parts of the county,” Providence District Supervisor Dalia Palchik, who represents most of Tysons, told FFXnow. “It really is our economic engine — steps away from [the] McLean Metro [station], Capital One Hall — which helped make this project a reality.”
The first phase of Somos will replace a vacant, recently demolished office building at 1750 Old Meadow Road with an 8-story, 231-unit apartment building. All units will be reserved for households earning between 30 and 60% of the area median income (AMI), which is currently $108,300 for one person, per the county’s WDU program.
Expected to close financing this October, the second phase will bring another 225 units built on top of an existing three-level parking garage. Preserving the garage shaved about $8 million off of the project’s costs, according to SCG Development President Steve Wilson.
Somos was also made possible by “substantial” financial support from Fairfax County and its Redevelopment and Housing Authority (FCRHA), which contributed over $33 million, and Virginia Housing, which committed over $54.5 million and provided 4% Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) to ensure affordable rents will be offered.
Finally, Amazon pitched in for phase one with a $28.97 million loan from its housing equity fund. The tech and e-commerce giant has committed over $3.6 billion, including $1.4 billion announced earlier this year, to build and preserve affordable housing in the areas where it has a corporate presence: the D.C. region, Seattle, Washington, and Nashville, Tennessee.
The site’s proximity to the McLean Metro station was critical to obtaining Amazon’s contribution, which helped speed up a development that otherwise might’ve taken seven to eight years to complete, Wilson says.
“The Amazon funding is acting as a catalyst and accelerant that enable larger development to be constructed much more quickly than they otherwise would,” he told FFXnow, noting that both phases are projected to finish construction in April 2026.
In addition to the Metro station, future Somos residents will be within walking distance of the Capital One Center and Scotts Run developments as well as Tysons Corner Center via the pedestrian bridge over I-495. Planned amenities include a 6-foot-wide recreational trail and a 21,008-square-foot publicly accessible park along Old Meadow Road.
Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay stressed the value of providing affordable housing in economically competitive places “where people want to live,” rather than isolating it in lower-income areas where the developments might be more “politically acceptable.”
A market study released last summer by the Tysons Community Alliance found that Tysons has a larger percentage of households earning under $100,000 annually than the county as a whole, including a slightly larger share of under-$35,000 earners.
“We have more families living below the poverty line than we do in the average of Fairfax County, so we know that housing is absolutely needed here,” Palchik said.
