The Herndon Town Council has once again deferred finalizing an agreement with developer Comstock to redevelop downtown Herndon — a move met with an ire and skepticism that has steadily grown after years of delays.
The council voted 5-1 last night (Tuesday) to extend a deadline for signing an amended agreement with the developer to Dec. 10. The deadline — known as the “outside satisfaction date” — had already been pushed back from April 30 and again from Aug. 15 following a two-year pause on the project.
“My good faith in this is gone,” said Councilmember Donielle Scherff, who cast the lone dissenting vote on what she said was a poorly negotiated deal that handcuffed the town.
As part of the amended agreement, Comstock plans to cut almost 12,000 square feet from the planned art center, reducing the planned facility from 16,265 square feet to 4,265 square foot. The project also promises around 273 apartments, 17,000 square feet of retail and a 726-space parking garage.
Several town residents — including members of the LGBTQ+ community who work with Arts Herndon — expressed disappointment with the reduction of the arts center. Herndon High School student Rusty Bud said the reduced footprint reflected a “lack of prioritization” by the town.
Last night, town officials offered a glimpse into the shaky circumstances around the deal and reasons for the delays, including the quadrupling of lumber costs, the sapping-up of the concrete market due to a construction boom up and down the Dulles Toll Road, high interest rates, and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Without delving into specifics, departing Town Manager Bill Ashton II noted that the biggest challenge was making sure the overall package was an attractive deal for lenders while protecting the town’s interests and minimizing risk.
Over the last several weeks, the town came close to walking away from the deal. Ashton described a rocky series of negotiations with Comstock that almost reached a “significant impasse.”
Even after stripping the arts center of significant square footage, the deal’s future is contingent on an economic model that anticipates interest rates will decline this month and next. It’s unclear what would happen if interest rates don’t dip as forecasted, but Ashton opined the project could collapse.
With the town extending the deal’s deadline, it’s now up to Comstock to follow through. If the developer defaults on its contract, the town would likely shoulder significant fees, and a protracted legal process might ensue. The bigger consequence, town officials said, was that there would be a void in downtown Herndon that developers would be less than keen on addressing.
“It’s not going to be an easy unwind,” Ashton said. “…If this doesn’t happen you will be 10-plus years until you have something over there.”
Last night was Ashton’s last session as town manager, with former Prince William County executive Christopher Martino taking over on an interim basis, starting today. Ashton had hoped to deliver better news on the downtown redevelopment to close out a 27-year career with the town.
The development has become a linchpin for other businesses and developments. Restaurants are waiting to see what’s going to happen, and areas that are “screaming” for redevelopment are also contingent on the fate of downtown Herndon, Ashton said.
At an Aug. 14 public hearing, Comstock officials expressed hope they could break ground in April 2025. The planned parking garage would open in July 2026, with the overall project finishing in mid-2027.
Herndon originally entered the comprehensive agreement with Comstock in October 2017. Although construction was set to begin soon after, an appeal from property owners delayed the project.
The town council later amended the agreement in 2020 to set a construction start time frame of December 2021 that got bumped to 2022 due to the pandemic. But in April 2022, the company elected to exercise its two-year pause option, citing current economic conditions.
Ashton said the project was “never a large money maker” for Comstock, calling the company’s big Reston Station projects an unfair comparison since their lending deals were inked years ago.
“The elected town council has let the citizens of Herndon down. In my opinion, this is not the first time,” one resident said at last night’s meeting.
The town has little, if any, leverage in challenging Comstock’s terms, especially since the major bulk of negotiations took place in 2017, according to Councilmember Cesar del Aguila, an assertion backed by Herndon Town Attorney Lisa Yeatts.
“We cannot walk away from this and unwind without some serious penalties. We would lose the land and be in litigation for decades,” Del Aguila said.
Even after the extension approval, other councilmembers said the future is still unclear. This is the first time the agreement has included tangible deadlines for Comstock to reach various steps in the planning process — a move that some say is hopeful.
Vice Mayor Clark Hedrick cautioned the town against pursuing public-private agreements under Virginia’s Public Private Education Facilities and Infrastructure Act in the future. Ashton acknowledged projects under the act fail more than they succeed.
