The next phase of development at Reston Town Center took a step closer to construction last week.
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved changes last Tuesday (Nov. 18) to the plan for the mixed-use project known as RTC Next, including an increase in office space and a change in location for a planned arts facility.
“I think it is going to be a landmark, not just for Reston, but for all of Fairfax County,” Hunter Mill District Supervisor Walter Alcorn said just prior to the 9-0 vote.
Developer BXP — formerly known as Boston Properties — had requested amendments to its master plan for the development, which was originally approved by the county board in 2018.
In addition to increasing the amount of planned office space from 643,000 to 930,000 square feet while reducing the square footage of other uses, the new plan moves a performing arts center previously designated for Block J facing Sunset Hills Road to a Block G along Navigator Parkway, where it’ll face park amenities.
The new siting “places the arts center more into the community space” of RTC Next, Mark Looney, a land-use attorney with Cooley LLP representing the developer, said at the hearing.
“It’s a more private and nuanced location,” Looney said.
Block G has now been divided into two buildings — the performing arts center (Block G2) and a 398-foot-tall office building with 4,000 square feet of ground-floor amenities. Instead of hosting the public facility, Block J will be turned into another office building.
Located near the Reston Town Center Metro station, the 22-acre RTC Next parcel is bounded by Reston Parkway, Sunset Hills Road, Town Center Parkway and the Washington & Old Dominion Regional Trail.
The first stage of the expansion, located west of Visionary Way, has been completed, though the retail and office tenants are still emerging. That phase consisted of two office buildings, the Skymark apartments and Marriott’s AC Hotel and Residence Inn, which opened in January.
With the second and final phase of development, BXP will retain the existing office buildings at 12010 and 12012 Sunset Hills Road, along with a parking garage. The remaining office buildings will be razed and replaced by:
- Approximately 1,402 residential units on Blocks E, F1 and F2
- About 930,000 square feet of office space spread across two buildings (Blocks G1 and J)
- Nearly 86,900 square feet of retail space
- The 60,000-square-foot arts center
- Publicly accessible park spaces throughout the property, including a Central Park running between Visionary Way and Navigator Way from the W&OD Trail south to Sunset Hills Road
There also will be enhanced road and pedestrian connections between Reston Town Center and Metro, along with a new pedestrian bridge over Sunset Hills Road.
The bridge will provide “a more safe connection for folks coming out of the Metro station or going to the Metro station,” Looney said, comparing the proposed connection to the pedestrian bridge added over I-495 to Tysons Corner Center in 2022.
BXP and Fairfax County staff also favor replacing planned on-road bicycle lanes along Sunset Hills Road with an off-street, 14-foot-wide shared use path.
According to Looney, the change will ensure “bikers who are more casual aren’t competing with traffic that’s going 35, 40, 45 mph through the Metro station areas,” though the Virginia Department of Transportation’s approval is needed.
The proposal’s relatively even mix of residential and office space in one way is bucking the regional and national trend away from new commercial development. Looney said he has no doubts the commercial space can be filled.
While overall office space usage in Northern Virginia is down, the Reston and Herndon corridor is reportedly seeing strong leasing demand.
“There’s a flight to quality,” Looney said.
Alcorn said the plan “underscores the long-term value of this area for high-end office tenants,” calling the final package a net plus after the developer and staff worked “through a lot of issues.”
“We’re getting a good result,” he said. “It’s good for the county, it’s good for Reston.”
Both county staff and the Fairfax County Planning Commission had recommended approval of the changes. Only one speaker testified at the public hearing preceding the vote.
That speaker, Connor Tabarrok, a planner and civil engineer, praised the overall development plan, saying it will usher in “a virtuous cycle of growth” in the Reston Town Center area.
The proposal did not change the heights of any buildings, and the developer kept its initial plan to designate 16% of the 1,400 proposed residential units as either affordable or workforce housing.
