The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved plans on Tuesday (May 19) for 304 units of multifamily housing to replace an aging office building at 1950 Old Gallows Road in Tysons.
The development team, county staff and community “have worked together to create what I think is a much better” project than initially proposed, Providence District Supervisor Dalia Palchick said.
Supervisors approved a rezoning of the site and accepted the conceptual development plan, another step toward final approval of the project.
“It is definitely a great addition” to the Tysons area, Palchick said as the vote approached.
The proposal is a joint initiative of the developer Insight Property Group and Southern Management, which had previously used the existing eight-story office building as its headquarters.
The site is in a transition zone, located between lower-density residential properties on the south side of Gallows Road and the more intense development of Tysons. The new zoning is the Planned Tysons Corner (PTC) Urban District, which was created to support redevelopment of aging office parks into mixed-use properties.
The plan to replace the existing office building with up to six levels of housing had the support of staff and the Fairfax County Planning Commission. No speakers turned up at the May 19 public hearing.
The planned apartment building will include 51 workforce dwelling units, as well as a signature park space to be located at the corner of Gallows and Gallows Branch roads.
The developer has agreed to a number of road and pedestrian improvements in the immediate area, including connections to The Flats at Tysons condominiums now under construction to the west. The site’s existing parking garage will be retained for use by future residents.
Scott Adams, a land use attorney for McGuireWoods representing the development team, told supervisors all four sides of the site are being improved for pedestrians and those using the roadways.
Getting transportation improvements right, he said, had represented a puzzle.
“Every time you make a change … it leads to 10 more questions,” Adams said.
Palchik expressed hope that the changes will have a calming impact on traffic speeds along Gallows Road.
“We’re trying to slow it down a bit,” she said.
The lone vehicular access point to the site will be via Old Gallows Road.
In addition to the office building, the 4-acre parcel also currently is home to a former single-family home in use as a dentist office.
The property is one of the last vestiges of what had been the Worthington Heights residential community, which over time was replaced with commercial, retail and multifamily residential in that part of Tysons.
Like the office building, the home will be razed to make way for the redevelopment. Its history will be remembered through commemorative panels, and some of its design elements will be borrowed for use in the urban park.
Adams said the developer recognized the importance of the parcel as a gateway to the Tysons area.
“We’ve tried to create something that is a little more unique” than the norm, he told supervisors.
The project will total 314,000 square feet, with a floor-to-area ratio (FAR) of 1.79. FAR measures the square footage of development divided by the square footage of the lot. The future building’s height is capped at 95 feet.
