A new plan to add a hotel and hospitality venue to a historic home at 10230 Main Street in the City of Fairfax got a mix of cautious interest and firm rejection from city council members last week.
The proposal from developer Ox Hill Companies would keep the home intact while building an extensive resort around the property, raising some concerns from abutting townhouse owners as well as the Fairfax City Council.
The history of Farr Homeplace dates back to the 18th century. The Farr family received the property in 1797 as payment for service in the Continental Army. The current home was built in the 1880s after a previous house at the site was burned by Union soldiers after 14-year-old Richard Farr shot at passing soldiers.
Richard Farr joined Mosby’s Raiders during the Civil War and returned after the war to rebuild the home. He later served in the Virginia General Assembly and other positions, with the family continuing to have a prominent role in Fairfax for the next century.
City Planner Albert Frederick told the city council at its Feb. 25 meeting that any development should retain the existing house, with the current plans showing the 96-room hotel and hospitality venue built primarily on the eastern side of the property.
Beyond just the hotel, the plan proposes specialty restaurants, a lobby and bar, wellness spa, an indoor/outdoor pool, a conference center and underground parking.
Frederick said next steps for the project, if it moves forward, would be a potential land use application along with development review, work sessions and public hearings to follow.
Several city council members, however, were decidedly unenthusiastic about the project. Some questioned the wisdom of building a hotel and resort at a time when the hospitality industry is lingering in the long shadow of the Covid pandemic, and mass layoffs and other slashing of government operations in recent weeks have put Northern Virginia’s place as a hub for conferences in question.
“[I don’t see] whether there is a need for a hotel or conference center in our region given the landscape of the city’s availability for hotel rooms and other things,” Councilmember Stacey Hardy-Chandler said. “There may not be information about that, but to me, that’s a tipping point for any of the other issues because if the need is not there, it makes some of the other questions moot.”
Councilmember Billy Bates expressed firm opposition to the project.
“I, frankly, am not a fan of this,” Bates said. “I don’t think this is the right use of the site, especially with having a resort backing up to a quiet neighborhood. Moving that over, flipping it along the east/west orientation might help a bit, but how much really?”
Even if the original home remains intact, Bates said the new development would “change the physical context” of the house in a way that a townhouse development at the site might not.
Councilmember Rachel McQuillen also said she’s “not super fond of this plan,” expressing concerns about stormwater runoff and noise and privacy issues.
But others on the council said city leadership should be mindful that the resort could be modest compared to other alternatives at the site.
“If we don’t do this, what do we do here?” Councilmember Stacy Hall said. “We need to be mindful of what else could go here.”
Mayor Catherine Read defended the proposal, noting the owner, Ann Farr Lewis, could’ve sold the property to a housing developer but chose not to. She urged the council to review the project on its own merits.
“The property belongs to her, not the city,” Read said. “A developer has come along with a concept. Once she is no longer in charge of her property, someone else can decide to sell the property, but we as a body look at what is brought before us as a project.”
Read also pushed back against arguments that 2025 isn’t the best time to build resorts and hotels.
“Fairfax City is at the very heart of Northern Virginia,” Read said. “We are at the epicenter. We are the crossroads for the entire region, and yet we have not built venues for people to host here. What are our major venues? Old Town Hall? The Sherwood Center? Where do you host a major conference?”
Read said Fairfax hasn’t taken the best advantage of its geographic advantage. Additionally, Read said she could easily envision the resort becoming a wedding destination.
“I don’t know if this is the right project or the right developer,” Read said, “but I think we have to be thinking more expansively.”
