A D.C.-based real estate firm is looking to redevelop more of the office buildings in McNair’s Woodland Park area just south of Herndon with housing.
The Parkline at Woodland Park neighborhood would replace three “underperforming” office buildings at 2291 Wood Oak Drive with “much-needed opportunities for homeownership,” a legal representative for the Pinkard Group said in a July 30 statement to Fairfax County.
According to the submitted rezoning application, the developer favors a townhouse community with 305 traditional units and 110 stacked units, including 52 designated affordable dwelling units (ADUs). But it’s also considering an alternative that would deliver 347 townhomes — 237 traditional, 110 stacked — with a 212-unit multifamily building and a total of 42 ADUs.
In both cases, the Plaza Ridge I office building at 2251 Corporate Park Drive, where the defense contractor ManTech is headquartered, would remain, while three other office buildings and a surface parking lot are removed.
If the all-townhome approach is implemented, both existing parking garages would be demolished, but in the scenario with a multifamily building, one garage would be retained.
“This application provides an important opportunity to redevelop aging suburban-style office buildings and under-utilized surface parking in the Herndon Transit Station Area with much-needed housing, including a variety of housing types,” DLA Piper land use attorney Brian Winterhalter wrote in the statement.
For both plans, the developer says it would exceeding the county’s requirements for park space, though the multifamily option would have 2.87 acres versus 2.37 acres for the all-townhouse option. Suggested amenities include picnic areas, landscaping and plant beds, “nature-inspired” playgrounds, fitness stations, sculpture gardens, a central lawn for events, a dog play area, and sport or bocce ball courts.
The project would extend Woodland View Drive west to connect with Wood Oak Drive, which would be redesigned with a road diet. It also proposes adding overlooks and other amenities to turn the stormwater management pond on the northwest edge of the property into a more attractive space.
“The Applicant will enhance the banks and adjacent areas around the perimeter of the wet pond to enhance this open space amenity and provide opportunities for passive recreation,” Winterhalter said. “The placement of urban park spaces in areas of high visibility and accessibility will facilitate opportunities for future residents of the Property and the larger Woodland Park community to engage with each other.”
To make way for the development, the Pinkard Group needs Fairfax County to rezone the 34-acre office park from an industrial district to the Planned Residential Mixed-Use District, which encourages high-density residential and mixed-use development with an emphasis on multifamily housing.
All six stories tall and built between 1990 and 2001, the Woodland Park office buildings were acquired by an affiliate of the Rockville, Maryland-based firm Abod Capital Solutions from Brandywine Realty Trust for $64 million in December 2018, according to Fairfax County property records, which note that the sale was made in “duress.”
With the office market continuing to struggle, particularly for older, more suburban sites, other commercial properties in Woodland Park have also been eyed for potential redevelopment.
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved a Caywood at Woodland Park housing project just southwest of the Parkline parcels last year, and staff are reviewing a proposal for an apartment building with a self-storage facility on a currently vacant lot that was previously destined for office uses.
Just east of the Parkline site, the office buildings at 2250, 2300 and 2350 Corporate Park Drive were also sold under duress in 2024 to Zumot Real Estate Management in McLean for $9 million — a steep drop from the over $42 million that the previous owner paid.
Noting the property’s proximity to the Worldgate Centre shopping complex, Zumot describes its offices as a “workplace destination.” They had been advertised for sale, however, as a “transit-oriented investment opportunity with multiple alternative uses” by Cushman & Wakefield, which said they were collectively 43% leased with eight different tenants despite a recent $4.9 million renovation.
