The Fairfax County Planning Commission signaled support on March 11 for additional rental housing on a key parcel that sits on the Fairfax and Arlington county line near Seven Corners.
Commission members voted 11-0 to recommend approval of a site-specific comprehensive plan amendment (SSPA) for the 5.64-acre Cavalier Club site at 6200 Wilson Blvd, opening the door for more multifamily residential development.
The request now moves to the Board of Supervisors for consideration, currently set for May 5.
The property owner — Cavalier Club LLC — plans to retain the existing 12-story apartment building constructed in the mid-1960s while adding an eight-story building with 250 new units plus 5,000 square feet of retail.
“This area is ripe for redevelopment, and this site … is a good project to jump-start the effort,” said Mason District Commissioner Alis Wang, whose district contains the parcel.
The SSPA headed to supervisors would give the property owner slightly more density than what Southern Management Companies and development partner EYA proposed in a rezoning application currently under review. It would permit over 20 dwelling units per acre, which would amount to up to 300 units, and 20,000 square feet of retail.
The rezoning proposal calling for 250 units and about one-quarter the amount of allowable retail best matches the site, said Sara Mariska, a land-use attorney representing Southern Management.
“We have been working since 2022 to think about how to bring about this redevelopment,” she told the planning commission.
Originally filed in May 2024 and last updated in December, the development plan in the rezoning application shows a potential future phase of expansion that would replace the parking lot on the Arlington side of the property with townhomes.
Development plans for the townhouses have not yet been submitted in Arlington County, Fairfax officials said.
Assuming the SSPA request is approved by supervisors next month, Southern Management and EYA are slated to bring its rezoning request to the Planning Commission and supervisors by summer. Many of the design details will be fleshed out then, and additional public hearings will be held.
At least one planning commissioner — Chris Landgraf of Franconia District — was displeased that so many project details were still in flux during the March 11 meeting.
“I’m concerned we’re pushing a lot to the rezoning [discussion],” he said.
Wang said she expects many issues will be addressed when that day arrives.
“We need more housing,” she said. “We also have to anticipate and have a plan for dealing with the inevitable side effects: more traffic, more students in schools and environmental impacts.”
The lone speaker at the March 11 public hearing was a current Cavalier Club resident, who voiced concern about potential impacts on traffic, sunlight and rents for those living there.
Several community meetings have been held with residents, and there will be more, according to Mariska.
“A lot of residents have been there for a long time,” the attorney said. “We want to preserve and protect and retain [them].”
The new building would include affordable and workforce housing units, although an exact number has not been detailed. County policy calls for 10% of additional new housing in the Seven Corners area to be available to those earning between 50% and 80% of area median income.
A new parking garage would replace much of the existing surface parking on the parcel.
Much of the planning commission discussion centered around proposed improvements for pedestrians in the vicinity. Currently, pedestrian safety in the area is “definitely a dicey proposition,” Braddock District Commissioner Mary Cortina said.
One proposal from county transportation staff is to reduce westbound Wilson Blvd from two lanes to one between Seven Corners and the Arlington County line. The roadway already mostly one lane in each direction from the Arlington/Fairfax border to Arlington’s Ballston neighborhood.
Advancing that change would require approval from the Virginia Department of Transportation, county officials said. The proposal would retain two lanes in the eastbound direction.
An online survey conducted by the Fairfax government last summer drew a mix of support and opposition to the development proposal, with opponents outnumbering supporters.
In the survey, concerns were raised about increasing traffic and the new apartments being too expensive for those already living in the Seven Corners area.
“There are many, many neighborhoods for wealthy folks or they could live in Arlington, which used to also be a nice working-class neighborhood until ruined by these luxury apartments,” one respondent said.
The Board of Supervisors authorized consideration of a site-specific plan amendment for the parcel in 2023. SSPAs are used to permit changes to the Fairfax County Comprehensive Plan for individual or small groups of parcels, rather than making broader zoning changes.
The Cavalier Club parcel is bisected by the Fairfax-Arlington county line, with the current apartment building and the planned new building and garage on the Fairfax side. The site is also close to Fairfax County’s boundary with the City of Falls Church near the Eden Center shopping complex.
The existing apartment building, managed by Southern Management, contains a mix of units ranging from efficiencies to three bedrooms.
