After getting boxed in by the Mosaic District, the owners of Merrifield’s Alliance Center condominiums are looking to revitalize the half-century-old commercial property so it’s more in line with its neighbor.
The Fairfax County Planning Commission recommended approval last Wednesday (Dec. 4) of a comprehensive plan amendment that will set parameters for more intense mixed-use, residential development on the 3.2-acre parcel at 2929 Eskridge Road.
The proposed amendment won support after county staff tweaked the language to address concerns previously raised by commissioners and community members about the potential development’s height, lack of park space and impact on existing pedestrian safety challenges.
“Because this site does have limited consolidation opportunity, the plan amendment, in my view, does provide the opportunity to ensure continuity in facilitating the design across these sites,” Providence District Planning Commissioner Jeremy Hancock said before the unanimous vote. “Completion along this site on Eskridge Road will be the last step in continuing this vision of what the Mosaic District looks like and develops as.”
The concept
Constructed in 1976, the pair of two-story commercial buildings that currently make up the Alliance Center house 24 condo units with a variety of tenants, including Fairfax Public Access, a crematorium, the beer distributor Ferment Nation and martial arts studios.
Fairfax County’s Comprehensive Plan already allows either office and retail or mixed-use housing redevelopment on the site, but the owner is seeking to increase the intensity of the residential option from a floor-area ratio (FAR) of 1.2 to 3.0, allowing three times as much floor space as the total lot size.
That density could result in approximately 358 multifamily residential units with up to 60,000 square feet of non-residential uses on the building’s ground floor, according to a county staff report.
Submitted through the county’s Site-Specific Plan Amendment (SSPA) process in 2022, the Alliance Center Condominium’s concept envisioned two multifamily residential buildings with up to seven stories and a two-level parking garage.
At a public hearing before the planning commission on Nov. 13, county staff shared rough renderings that suggested the concept has evolved into a single building with the parking garage along the eastern property line, where it would be adjacent to a garage in the Mosaic District.
The 1.2 FAR currently recommended by the comprehensive plan was based on the assumption that the Alliance Center would be consolidated with other sites, but with the surrounding area now all built out, more density is needed to encourage redevelopment, says Steve Teets, an independent contractor hired to represent the condo owners who previously worked on the Mosaic District’s development.
“What I’m just trying to do is help some condo owners that see a tired piece of property in the middle of one of the most exciting districts in the United States — not just Fairfax County — realize their very best potential,” Teets told the planning commission at the public hearing, adding that the building height wouldn’t exceed what’s already allowed in the comp plan.
Amendment revised to address height, traffic concerns
However, existing residents in the Mosaic District Townhouses to the south fear the new development will literally overshadow their homes.
The prospect of looking out her window or balcony along Looking Glass Alley to face a seven-story building instead of the open view she currently gets, which can extend to the Dunn Loring Metro Station on a clear day, moved one public hearing speaker to tears.
“Every morning, one of my kids opens up the window, we talk about how many birds we see outside and the color of the sky and things like this,” she said. “… I know for them, it’s just putting up a building and an increase of their profit, but for us, and I might be the only one with kids in there, that’s a big thing we have every morning.”
In addition to echoing her concerns about the prospective building’s height, the woman’s neighbor noted that traffic congestion and speeding are issues along Eskridge Road and the side roads into the Mosaic District. A proposed access road into the new building’s garage would also add to the already abundant noise that residents experience.
“I understand development has to come, and I don’t think anyone doesn’t want it, but we want consideration,” the neighbor said.
The draft plan amendment says any redevelopment of the Alliance Center should provide pedestrian and bicycle facilities on Eskridge Road that are adequately separated from drivers “to improve circulation and connections to the surrounding area and enhance access to transit.” Traffic control and calming measures, such as a road diet or roundabout, should also be considered.
At last week’s planning commission meeting, Hancock said the draft was revised after the public hearing to stress that improvements to Eskridge Road should include “safer and more comfortable pedestrian crossings,” particularly at Strawberry Lane.
“That intersection is a problem intersection,” commission chair Phil Niedzielski-Eichner said during the public hearing. “If we’re going to add density in such a proximate location to it, we need to attend to that intersection.”
The proposed amendment also recommends shadow studies by the future developer to determine the building’s visual impact on the adjacent townhomes, the inclusion of open or green space in between the new development and the townhomes, and coordination with the Fairfax County Park Authority on any on-site park amenities.
Since the lot is too small to fit the 1 acre of park space required by the county on site, the future developer is expected to contribute funding for a park elsewhere in Merrifield “exceeding the standard requirement,” according to Hancock.
If the amendment is approved by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, which is scheduled to hold a public hearing on Jan. 14, a more detailed development plan will be submitted with a rezoning application.
“The applicant has expressed that, as we’ve been moving through the process, during the rezoning, it’ll look much different than what’s there now,” county staff said at the public hearing.
