Oracle wants to provide more parking for employees on its Reston campus.
An attorney representing the Texas-based technology corporation sent a letter to Fairfax County’s zoning administrator in January asking if a surface parking lot could be constructed on the office property at 1900 Oracle Way instead of a previously approved parking garage.
The 222 additional spaces proposed by Oracle would help address a surge in demand for parking, as the company pushes workers to return to offices that temporarily closed early in the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the letter.
“The Applicant is actively encouraging its employees to return to the office,” Venable partner Zachary Williams wrote. “As employees have done so, demand for parking has increased significantly, and the Applicant is seeking to provide additional capacity to meet that demand as well as the demand of future office tenants within the Oracle campus.”
A software developer and cloud services provider that ranks among the biggest companies in the world, Oracle established a Reston campus in 1998 to house its government, health and education-focused operations. The $65 million campus was expected to eventually expand to four buildings that could host up to 3,500 employees.
The campus currently consists of two eight-story buildings — the original 1998 building and a second office added in 2001, according to Fairfax County property records.
The county’s Board of Supervisors approved plans in 2009 for a third eight-story office building with a six-level parking garage, but neither has been constructed. Williams said Oracle doesn’t intend to pursue that expansion for now “given the current state of the office market.”
“Instead, the Applicant seeks to construct a surface parking lot to address existing demand while preserving flexibility for future development,” he wrote to Fairfax County Zoning Administrator Leslie Johnson.
According to the submitted concept plan, Oracle’s property has 1,217 existing parking spaces in both surface lots and garages. The new lot would be added just southeast of an existing one near the Dulles Toll Road.
It’s unclear how many, if any, of the trees currently surrounding the campus would be eliminated, but the project would require the removal of a “defunct, dry stormwater management pond” on the east side of the property, Williams wrote.
The company is seeking confirmation from the county that the change to a surface parking lot would constitute a “minor modification” to its approved development plan, allowing construction to move forward without the need for public hearings and approvals by the planning commission and Board of Supervisors.
Though the letter was filed on Jan. 13, county staff still haven’t accepted it for review, as the online zoning database indicates they’re still “waiting for information.”
Oracle’s public relations team didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment from FFXnow, which has also reached out to Williams.
It’s not clear how many of Oracle’s 162,000 employees currently work at the Reston office, but the company has rented out space to other tenants. The homebuilder NVR signed a lease for nearly 68,000 square feet at 1910 Oracle Way last fall, signaling a potential relocation of its corporate headquarters after its lease at Plaza America expires this April, the Washington Business Journal reported.
Oracle has recently been in the news for co-founder, chairman and chief technology officer Larry Ellison’s close relationship with President Donald Trump, which has given him and son David Ellison an apparent advantage in deals to acquire the social media platform TikTok and the media companies Paramount and, potentially, Warner Bros. Discovery.
