A developer hopes to alchemize real estate gold out of a faltering building in Coppermine Commons, an office complex in the McNair area south of Herndon.
An affiliate of the Arlington-based company Felice Development Group that appears to own Coppermine Commons III has proposed replacing the 5-story office building at 13851 Sunrise Valley Drive with up to 98 residential townhouses.
The envisioned housing would revitalize a 4.7-acre property that has struggled to attract tenants, despite recent renovations, according to a rezoning application submitted to Fairfax County on May 23.
“The existing office building is heavily under-leased. The previous owner spent over a decade unsuccessfully marketing the building and was unable to retain a financially viable number of leases,” land-use attorney David Gill wrote in a statement of justification. “Our Proposal represents the best opportunity to advance the overall mixed-use vision of the Comprehensive Plan’s Dulles Suburban Center.”
Built in 2001, Coppermine Commons III is a visual outlier on the three-building office campus, separated from buildings I and II by a parking garage. The complex was acquired in 2016 by the developer Cannon Hill Capital Partners, which completed a $10 million renovation in 2019, per its website.
While Cannon Hill still owns buildings I and II, Fairfax County property records show that it sold off the third building for $12.5 million last December to an entity registered in January to Felice Development Group founder and president Rick Felice.
As first reported by the Washington Business Journal, the rezoning application calls for 58 stacked townhouse units that would line Coppermine Road and Sunrise Valley Drive, while an additional 40 attached, single-family townhouses would be built on the west and east sides of the site.
At the center of the development would be a 17,641-square-foot open space described in Gill’s statement as a “central gathering space” that will “tie the community together.”
Pedestrian paths will be added around the central urban park and the overall property, connecting to an existing asphalt walkway along Coppermine Road. The application doesn’t specify how wide the paths will be or the material the developer plans to use.
Though the existing 4-story parking garage that serves Coppermine Commons III will be demolished, the developer says it will provide sufficient parking to meet the county code’s requirements, including spots for visitors.
“Stacked townhouse units will accommodate one car in the garage, and one car in the driveway,” the application said. “Conventional townhouse units will accommodate 2 cars in the garage and 2 cars in the driveway.”
The application suggests that the developer will provide affordable housing, in accordance with the county’s requirements, but it doesn’t specify how many units will be designated as affordable or workforce dwelling units.
Located just east of Dulles International Airport and Route 28, Coppermine Commons is surrounded by a mix of commercial and residential development, with the Courts at Dulles apartments across the street and Candlewood Suites right next door.
A townhouse development proposed nearby on the site of a now-vacant PNC Bank building at 13490 Coppermine Road secured the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors’ approval in June 2024.
Office vacancies remain a challenge across Fairfax County, particularly for older buildings in more suburban environments. Despite the arrival of Metro’s Silver Line in 2022, the western Dulles Toll Road corridor is among the areas in flux with several high-vacancy office buildings, according to data shared last July by the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority.
Building screenshot via Google Maps
