With construction progressing on Reston Row, developer Comstock is looking to add a pedestrian amenity that it hopes will attract office tenants to the growing neighborhood near the Wiehle Metro Station.
Comstock submitted plans to Fairfax County on Dec. 22 for a potential pedestrian bridge over an internal road that would enable workers to cross from one upcoming office building to another.
The idea for the bridge grew out of conversations with possible tenants, who indicated that it “would create the kind of synthesized and integrated campus that such major players are looking to lease,” Hunton Andrews Kurth land use attorney Jill Parks said in a statement of justification for the developer.
“As the office market in the region is still bottoming, winning the tenancy of a major office user would be a boon not just to Comstock, or the Hunter Mill district, but also to the County and the region,” Parks wrote. “As a result … Comstock is proposing to add an option to the governing development plan that would permit this simple but critical office tenant amenity.”
According to the application, which seeks to amend a development plan that was first approved in 2018 and revised in September 2023, the occupants of Reston Row’s 141,835 square feet of retail space have been “all but determined.”
Joining Vida Fitness and Spa, announced offerings will include Ebbitt House from the company behind Clyde’s of Reston, indoor mini golf facility Puttshack, the bakery Tous les Jours and the restaurant Noku Sushi.
Negotiations are still underway with prospective office tenants, with Comstock aiming to open a 10-story building at 1880 Reston Row Plaza and a 13-story tower at 1800 Reston Row Plaza in fall 2025, Parks wrote. The only office occupant revealed so far is Inova Health System, which will open a concierge medical care location in the 1880 building.
Per the application, Comstock will give a not-yet-determined tenant the option of constructing an approximately 1,500-square-foot pedestrian bridge between the two office buildings. The connection is shown on the fifth floor in the submitted plan, but it could be shifted up to the seventh story or down to the fourth based on “the ultimate user’s specifications.”
“Comstock has nearly perfected the now-iconic Reston Row development, and is just making final modifications to suit the needs of potential tenants,” Parks wrote. “To that end, Comstock is respectfully requesting the County’s approval of the very limited change proposed herein, which may, in turn, have a very significant impact by spearheading the turn-around of the office market in the Hunter Mill District, Fairfax County and the region.”
Totaling 1.6 million square feet of development across four buildings just north of Reston Station, Reston Row will also be home to JW Marriott Hotel and Residences, which is expected to open this coming spring, and a 425-unit multifamily residential building.
