A new supply of townhomes could be in store for Pimmit Hills, meeting a demand evidenced by the speed at which developer EYA’s Tysons Ridge neighborhood sold out.
The owner of the nearby office complex at 7600 Leesburg Pike secured the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors’ approval on Tuesday (Oct. 14) for a redevelopment that will replace the two existing buildings with over 100 townhomes.
The board held separate public hearings and votes that day on a plan amendment to increase the density of housing allowed on the approximately 10-acre site and a related rezoning application with more granular details about the proposed project.
Constructed in 1986, the two four-story buildings at 7600 Leesburg Pike have struggled to attract tenants in recent years — a familiar story for older office properties in Fairfax County, noted Walsh Colucci Lubeley and Walsh land use attorney Lynn Strobel, who represented the Texas-based affiliate of SitusAMC that owns the site.
“Unfortunately, like a lot of office buildings in Fairfax County, [it] has a rather high vacancy rate,” Strobel said. “Given these circumstances, it led to a conclusion that could be a higher and better use here.”
Developer Elm Street Communities proposed in 2022 that Fairfax County revise its comprehensive plan to allow 12 to 16 dwelling units per acre, up from the existing recommendation of five to eight units per acre.
The affiliate of SitusAMC, a real estate financier, then acquired the property in January 2024 and submitted an application envisioning up to 165 townhouses supported by 0.77 acres of park space, featuring a playground, dog park, pickleball court and other recreational amenities.
By the time it reached the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, the development plan had been slightly downsized, calling for 137 townhomes with a mix of 38 stacked units and 99 traditional, side-by-side units. That will include an estimated five affordable and 11 workforce dwelling units reserved for lower-income households in accordance with the county’s affordable housing policies.
The amount of publicly accessible park space ticked down to 0.58 acres, but it still exceeds the need calculated by the county. The property owner agreed to contribute $893 per future resident to the Fairfax County Park Authority for offsite recreational facilities and provide a pedestrian connection to trails around the adjacent Tysons-Pimmit Regional Library.
The onsite park space will be spread across three different areas, according to a county staff report:
Urban Park 1 is a mews-style park which features passive recreational opportunities such as seating areas, shade structures, and landscaping. Urban Park 2 will feature a children’s play structure, seating areas and a pedestrian connection to the adjacent Tysons Pimmit Park’s trail network. Urban Park 3 will provide seating and outdoor grilling space.
The development will also bring an extension of Kilgore Road to an existing Leesburg Pike (Route 7) service road, giving residents in the Pimmit Hills neighborhood behind the office buildings more direct access to the signalized intersection across from George C. Marshall Drive.
“The connections coming down Kilgore … I think will be a pretty strong benefit,” Dranesville District Supervisor Jimmy Bierman said, noting that residents currently have to cut through the office parking lot to reach Route 7.
When asked by Providence District Supervisor Dalia Palchik, Strobel confirmed that the property owner has agreed to provide a location and funding to the county for a future Capital Bikeshare station.
In addition, rights of way will be reserved along Route 7 for a 10-foot-wide trail and the bus rapid transit service that Northern Virginia leaders hope to establish between the Spring Hill Metro station in Tysons and the Mark Center in Alexandria.
The planned pedestrian and transit improvements drew praise from one of the two community members who testified at the public hearings.
Mostafa Einahass, who lives near the West Falls Church Metro station and serves as the Fairfax lead for the pro-housing group YIMBYs of NOVA, said he’s committed to a car-free lifestyle and regularly takes the bus to Marshall High School for community pick-up soccer games.
“This experience has shown me the potential and the pressing need for more connected, walkable communities in this area,” Einahass said.
He expressed hope that the new project will match “the success of the Tysons Ridge development just down the road.”
“It replaced old offices with new townhomes, improved sidewalks and created a more vibrant streetscape,” he said. “The proposal for 7600 Leesburg Pike promises to do the same, enhancing pedestrian and bicycle connectivity to nearby amenities like the library, Marshall High School and local shops.”
The other speaker, a resident who lives in a house behind 7600 Leesburg Pike, raised concerns about the development’s potential impact on his privacy and stormwater drainage, asking whether the existing tree buffer between the properties will be enhanced.
Strobel and a planner from the engineering firm VIKA assured the board that the stormwater management facilities and tree coverage along the property line will be robust.
“We actually worked a lot with staff on that boundary, increasing it so that we are preserving existing trees and also supplementing those with additional trees,” Strobel said. “So, we did spend a lot of time ensuring they’ll have appropriate vegetation between the properties.”
She added that the plans for managing stormwater meet county regulations and that “we are not dispersing that stormwater off-site.”
The plan amendment and rezoning application were both unanimously approved by the board, though Hunter Mill District Supervisor Walter Alcorn disclosed that he met his wife on the third floor of the western office building at 7600 Leesburg Pike in 1992.
“But I have no financial interest in anyone associated, so I will be participating,” he said before the rezoning hearing.
Bierman, whose district includes the property, acknowledged Alcorn’s personal connection to the offices but said replacing them with housing will still be “a great use of the site.”
“It’s a great location next to a great neighborhood and also next to a library, and I think it’s going to be, one day, when it’s all said and done, a great place to live,” Bierman said.
