The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved an updated conceptual development plan yesterday (Tuesday) that will replace the Commons of McLean apartments (1640 Anderson Road) with a new McLean Crossing mixed-use complex.
The unanimous vote allows property owner LCOR to start moving toward final development plans for an 11-building compound that could add up to 2.72 million square feet of residential, commercial and retail space near the McLean Metro station.
Filed in 2022, the approved application supersedes a development plan from 2013 that envisioned 2.6 million square feet of new development, including seven residential buildings capped at 2,571 units, on 18.7 acres along Anderson Road, adjacent to Chain Bridge Road, the Commons Shopping Center and the MITRE office campus.
Depending on the final design option chosen by the developer, the new plan calls for up to 2.5 million square feet of residential space, which would allow 2,536 units with between 231 and 319 of them set aside as subsidized workforce dwelling units (WDUs).
With building heights ranging from 75 to 225 feet, the development could also have up to 600,000 square feet of office space and 350,000 square feet of retail. There are options for a 250,000-square-foot continuing care facility and a 200-room hotel.
About one-third of the parcel would remain open space, with LCOR proposing 6.8 acres of publicly accessible urban park space. That includes Goodman Field, a full-sized athletic turf field that was approved under the previous plan but has now been relocated to the top of a parking garage.
“This will bring a lot of amenities to the community,” said Providence District Supervisor Dalia Palchik, pointing to the open space and number of WDUs as key selling points.
Robert Brant, an attorney representing the property owner, said the lengthy gestation period for the proposal made it better in the end.
“It’s really benefited from the feedback we’ve gotten,” he told supervisors.
The proposal was backed by the McLean Citizens Association and the Fairfax County Planning Commission, which “put in a lot — a lot — of time and effort into this,” Palchik observed.
The only speaker in the public hearing that preceded the vote — Ken Fowler, a director of the nearby Union Park at McLean condominium association — said he was “very excited” about the proposal, especially the park spaces. He urged the developer to accelerate its construction schedule for Goodman Field, one of the project’s signature elements.
Originally aiming to deliver the athletic facility no later than 2040, LCOR agreed to move up its latest possible opening to 2037. But that date still seems too far off to some, given the thousands of residents who may be occupying the site by then.
Brant said 2037 would be the worst-case scenario. “We’re hopeful we can move forward much faster,” he said.
The field would be owned by LCOR but operated by either the Fairfax County Park Authority or Department of Neighborhood and Community Services.
Lingering issues, such as parking and traffic management, are expected to be considered whenever LCOR returns to the county with a final development plan.
The newly approved concept plan has about 100,000 more square feet of planned development than the 2013 submission. While overall parkland will decline compared to the original plan, 32% of the property would remain open space.
