Tysons is getting a community center, one that will exclusively serve residents 50 and older.
Fairfax County’s Department of Neighborhood and Community Services (NCS) has put out a call for public input on the programming that should be offered at the center, which has been named the Arbor Row Center and will be located on the ground floor of The Mather at 7929 Westpark Drive.
NCS will share information about the new facility and collect feedback at three upcoming community meetings:
- Thursday, Jan. 23 at 2:30 p.m. in the Lewinsville Senior Center (1613 Great Falls Street, McLean)
- Tuesday, Jan. 28 at 5:30 p.m. (virtual)
- Wednesday, Feb. 5 at 5:30 p.m. (virtual)
Links for the virtual meetings can be found on a public input webpage for the project, along with an online questionnaire with questions about possible classes, social activities and amenities or services. Feedback will be accepted through Feb. 7.
Expected to open this spring, Arbor Row Center will be in The Mather’s southern building, which opened to residents last September after an initial north building arrived in March 2024.
The senior living developer Mather agreed to provide a public community center as a condition of the county’s 2019 approval of its development plan for the “life plan community,” which delivered a total of 293 apartments for adults 62 and older.
In addition to the community center, which includes an adjacent outdoor space, The Mather has publicly accessible park space and 14,000 square feet of retail, though no tenants have been announced yet.
The development is part of Arbor Row, which also includes the Nouvelle Apartments and Monarch, a condominium building. Last May, the county gave developer Renaissance Centro the green light to construct another condo building in place of an office building previously approved for the 19.5-acre neighborhood along Westpark Drive.
With the Tysons population continuing to grow, Fairfax County has been working to enhance the public facilities available to support the area’s new residents. An analysis commissioned by the Tysons Community Alliance found that the county spends approximately $188 million on infrastructure and services in Tysons — a cost outweighed by the $342 million that the area generates in local tax revenue.
Like Arbor Row Center, many facilities in Tysons, including the Scotts Run Fire Station and urban park spaces, were made possible through a proffer system where developers agree to build or provide funding for improvements to offset the potential impacts of their projects.
At its final meeting of 2024, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved slight increases to the rates used to calculate how much money developers looking to build in Tysons should contribute to support schools, parks, public transportation and other needs.
