More pieces of the Reston Midline development near the Wiehle Metro station are starting to fall into place.
Developer EYA hopes to begin construction on an apartment building within the next year after completing its Townhomes at Reston Station earlier this summer. All 113 townhouses were sold by August 2023, and they were officially delivered to buyers by June, EYA President and CEO McLean Quinn told FFXnow.
EYA broke ground on the townhomes back in September 2020, but a two-phased approach to the land closing process resulted in “a slight gap” in the delivery of units on the south side of Reston Station Blvd and units on the north side, according to Quinn.
The project also came with a neighborhood park and playground that opened last June.
A sign erected on a currently vacant lot adjacent to the townhomes north of Reston Station Blvd marks it as the site of EYA’s planned apartment building, which will feature 227 residential units and 5,000 square feet of retail.
The building got approved by Fairfax County back in 2018 as part of the overall Midline plan, which is replacing aging office buildings east of Wiehle Avenue and south of Sunset Hills Road with 1.8 million square feet of mixed-use development. However, no clear construction timeline has been established.
“The apartments are waiting for the financing and construction cost markets to improve before breaking ground,” Quinn said by email. “EYA hopes to start the apartment building within the next 6-12 months.”
According to Quinn, fellow developer Elm Street Communities is similarly waiting for market conditions to improve before starting construction on an 82-unit condominium building that will occupy a small parcel on the south side of Reston Station Blvd that it bought from EYA.
Elm Street partner and vice president Nicholas Flanagan says the company should be able to start construction in 2025 “if all goes well.”
A site plan currently under review by the county proposes a seven-story, 81-foot-tall condo building with a mix of one and two-bedroom units, including 11 one-bedroom workforce dwelling units (WDUs). There will be a three-level underground parking garage with 96 spaces.
The county is also reviewing a site plan from Comstock Companies, the developer of Reston Station on the west side of Wiehle Avenue, for Midline’s Block A, which would replace a vacant office building at 1831 Wiehle Avenue with a 148-unit independent living facility and a 304-unit multi-family residential building.
Comstock acquired the site from JBG Smith in 2022, along with a similarly empty office building at 1861 Wiehle Avenue.
Per the site plan, the multi-family building will be seven stories or about 85 feet tall, while the independent living building will be slightly shorter with five stories on top of a podium with 32,000 square feet of ground-floor retail, including a grocery store that Comstock recently confirmed will be leased by Fresh Market.
Another 17,000 square feet of retail — specifically restaurant space — is proposed in Comstock’s multi-family residential building, though 81,920 square feet of “secondary uses” were approved in the Midline development plan.
The buildings will share a three-level underground parking garage with 741 spaces, including over 40 electric vehicle charging spots. Affordable housing requirements will be addressed with 148 one and two-bedroom WDUs in the independent living building.
A Comstock spokesperson told FFXnow on July 16 that its Midline project “is slated to commence within the next 12 months.” Fresh Market announced in a press release that it anticipates opening new locations in Reston and Falls Church “within the next three years.”
Correction: This story originally said EYA delivered 115 units in the Townhomes at Reston Station. That’s how many got approved, but 113 units were ultimately built.
