Fairfax County is officially evaluating the potential of incorporating a Reston Community Center satellite facility in its anticipated redevelopment of a Lake Anne apartment complex.
The county’s Board of Supervisors voted unanimously yesterday (Tuesday) to have planning staff review a comprehensive plan amendment significantly expanding the amount of non-residential uses allowed on the Crescent Apartments property at 1513 and 1531 Cameron Crescent Drive.
Transferred last year to the Fairfax County Redevelopment and Housing Authority (FCRHA), the 16.5-acre site is currently home to an 181-unit apartment complex that serves households earning 60% of the area median income or less. The FCRHA hopes to partner with a private developer to replace the existing homes with a more modern project that could deliver additional units.
Increasing the amount of non-residential space on the parcel from a current maximum of 2,000 square feet to an upper limit of 30,000 square feet could provide an ancillary space for the Reston Community Center, Alcorn told his colleagues.
“It’s not a done deal in terms of size, scope,” Alcorn said, but “it will help bring the community into the discussion.”
Reston Community Center’s primary facility is located on Colts Neck Road in the Hunters Woods Village Center, but it has a smaller facility on Washington Plaza adjacent to Lake Anne. While the lease on that facility runs for 13 more years, RCC officials say it has outgrown the space and have floated the possibility of relocating to the nearby Crescent Apartments site.
The Crescent Apartments were constructed in the earliest days of Reston in the 1960s. Though still habitable, the apartments are outdated and do not meet current accessibility requirements, county officials say.
The county government has owned the property since 2006, but past attempts to redevelop the site have failed. The idea was resurrected a few years ago as part of an economic visioning study that evaluated the development potential of the entire 44-acre Lake Anne Commercial Revitalization Area.
Completed in 2024, the study recommended bolstering the Lake Anne area’s housing supply by concentrating new density on the Crescent Apartments site, likely with mid-rise apartment buildings between three and seven stories in height. It also identified a relocation of RCC’s satellite facility as “a possible option” for establishing a cultural anchor.
Under the current Reston Comprehensive Plan, up to 750 residential units could be accommodated on the Crescent Apartments site, but a consolidation with nearby Land Unit A, which contains Washington Plaza’s parking lot, is “preferred” to allow more intensity and flexibility for the future development.
“The Full Consolidation of Land Unit A and D Option would also provide an opportunity to improve the visibility of Washington Plaza and below-grade parking could more readily be constructed in strategic locations,” the plan says on page 52.
A spokesperson for Alcorn’s office confirmed that the proposed comprehensive plan amendment is focused only on increasing the amount of non-residential uses permitted on the Crescent property and won’t affect the square footage or number of residential units.
Review of ‘Bowman Manor’ development plan accelerated
The Board of Supervisors also agreed yesterday to expedite consideration of a proposal to build up to 57 townhouses at 1850 Old Reston Avenue while retaining the 19th-century Bowman Manor estate as the development’s centerpiece.
Hunter Mill District Supervisor Walter Alcorn requested that staff move forward with a review of the rezoning application filed by Old Reston Associates LLC in time for the board to hold a public hearing on July 14.
The board likely will consider the developer’s requests for a final development plan and site plan concurrently at that meeting.
The supervisors unanimously approved the request, after receiving assurances from Alcorn that development of the site would include preservation of Bowman Manor, which dates back to 1899.
Long before Reston came into being, the property served as a rural retreat for A. Smith Bowman, patriarch of a family and distillery firm that owned about 7,200 acres.
The home later was converted to office use, and the Bowman family sold off much of its property in the 1960s to New York developer Robert E. Simon, the first developer of Reston and the one whose initials (R-E-S) helped give the community its name.
The 1850 Old Reston Avenue parcel currently contains several 1980s-era office buildings. In 2019, plans were approved for new commercial development on the site, but construction did not materialize.
Last year, the property owner — American Armed Forces Mutual Aid Association — submitted new plans for a joint venture with developer EYA to construct up to 57 townhouses rising as much as 55 feet tall. Seven homes would be reserved as affordable dwelling units (ADUs).
The manor house will be retained, Alcorn said, serving as either office space, a single-family home or a community center. In addition, developers plan to retain the gazebo, pond and portions of the existing wall along Old Reston Avenue, he said.
