Developers are looking to transform several acres of unused office and commercial properties between Old Keene Mill Road and Springfield Blvd into multi-family residences.
To allow for the developments, Fairfax County could amend its comprehensive plan to permit 732 residential units and retail on several properties at the intersections of Backlick Road, Amherst Avenue, and Springfield Blvd.
The proposed Springfield Blvd and Amherst Avenue plan amendments cover nine parcels totaling about 5.7 acres. They’re part of a larger planning study for downtown Springfield that the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors authorized in April 2023 to determine how to implement market study recommendations from 2022.
One of the leading property owners, Schupp Companies, has proposed redeveloping 4.35 acres at the intersection of Backlick Road and Springfield Blvd with 610 multi-family residential units and 10,000 square feet of ground-floor retail, Mark Viani, a real estate attorney representing the developer, told community members at a virtual meeting on July 15.
The area is currently occupied by about 14,000 square feet of vacant office buildings and 24,000 square feet of retail space, including two dry cleaners, a nail spa, a bank, an auto parts store, and an auto sales and service shop.
Schupp, which acquired the five parcels in 2016, previously received approval for a hotel-anchored Springfield Gateway development several years ago, but the project was abandoned in 2020 following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
On Amherst Avenue, county staff have proposed allowing 122 additional multi-family units on four parcels totaling 1.43 acres. The site currently contains about 25,000 square feet of vacant office buildings and 6,000 square feet of vacant retail space.
“The idea behind the Amherst Avenue [amendment] is the coordination of the plan recommendations with the Springfield Boulevard plan amendment,” Katrina Newtson, an urban planner with the Fairfax County Department of Planning and Development, told attendees of the July 15 meeting.
The owners of the Amherst Avenue parcels and prospective developers were not present at the meeting.
Transportation emerged as a concern, with several residents questioning whether Backlick Road, Springfield Blvd and Amherst Avenue can handle additional traffic on top of the congestion they already face, especially during rush hours.
In response, Viani said the developer would collaborate with the Fairfax County Department of Transportation (FCDOT) on road improvements, including a third northbound lane on Backlick Road, two westbound lanes on Springfield Blvd, and altered traffic patterns on Amherst Avenue for better access to the new projects.
“We anticipate having 5,433 daily trips from those three properties that we talked about if they were developed as office as a part of the current plan,” Viani said. “Under the proposed plan amendment, that number would be reduced — before any traffic demand measures — down to 3,323 [trips], so about a 40% reduction.”
All buildings would feature underground parking garages for both residential and retail use, alongside expanded sidewalks, street parking, and bicycle lanes, Viani said.
Additionally, a proposed bridge over Old Keene Mill Road could link the northern and southern sections of the Springfield Community Business Center, offering an alternative route to ease congestion on Backlick Road.
“We’re going to look at the bridge and potentially other solutions…through a public process, so everyone will have a chance to provide input,” FCDOT senior transportation planner Thomas Burke said at the meeting. “But we’ll actually take a deeper dive and look at that bridge as to whether we really think that’s the solution that we need to provide that additional capacity.”
Viani noted that construction is still years away. Approval of the comprehensive plan amendment by the county would be just the first step; the developer would also need to rezone the property and secure site plan approval.
“You’re probably talking at the earliest, just under three years, to get a shovel in the ground, and that’s assuming we don’t have trouble with people moving out and getting new tenants and stuff like that,” he said.
Both plan amendments are set to go to the planning commission for a public hearing on Oct. 23 and, after that, to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors on Nov. 19.
