The repurposing of Inova Health System’s former administrative headquarters in Merrifield is seeing mixed success nearly three years after it was approved by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors.
While construction continues on a conversion of one office building at 2990 Telestar Court into affordable housing, the live/work units planned for an adjacent building at 8110 Gatehouse Road are no longer moving forward, Providence District Supervisor Dalia Palchik shared at the board’s meeting on Tuesday, June 9.
Inova sold the vacant six-story Gatehouse building for $13 million on Feb. 13 to a company identified in county property records as Gatehouse Investment LLC. The listed mailing address matches the main office of Buchanan Partners, a Bethesda, Maryland-based developer whose other properties in the area include the Woodland Park offices in Herndon and Dulles Business Park in Chantilly.
Buchanan didn’t respond to a request for comment by press time, but the new property owner has proposed redeveloping the Gatehouse site with multifamily and townhouse residences, according to Palchik.
The pivot will require an amendment to the Fairfax County Comprehensive Plan, which currently recommends office and warehouse uses on the property, as well as a rezoning application with a development plan.
“We have been working with staff on this, and I believe they are open to us moving forward,” Palchik said at Tuesday’s board meeting.
The board voted without objection to authorize county staff to consider a plan amendment, which is necessary because the developer intends to replace the existing office building instead of repurposing it as proposed for the now-defunct live/work project.
“The authorization for a Plan Amendment simply allows staff to begin evaluating the current proposal and does not indicate any position by the Board on a future rezoning or development application,” Fairfax County Department of Planning and Development Director Tracy Strunk told FFXnow.
With Inova consolidating its administrative offices at its Center for Personalized Health (8100 Innovation Park Drive), the developer Madison Highland had submitted rezoning applications to the county in July 2022 proposing to renovate and reuse the Telestar and Gatehouse buildings as 82 units of workforce housing and 210 live/work units, respectively.
Specializing in live/work units, which are designed so occupants can use them either as a home or an office space, Madison Highland converted three office buildings in Bailey’s Crossroads into the Three Collective apartments in 2024. The 675-unit project is the largest live/work development in the U.S., the developer says on its website.
Plans to convert two more vacant buildings in the Skyline Center into another 510 live/work units received the county board’s approval in February 2023, but construction doesn’t appear to have started in September 2024 as expected, per Madison Highland’s website, which also still lists an anticipated spring 2025 time frame for the Gatehouse Road project to begin.
Approved concurrently by the Board of Supervisors on June 27, 2023, the plans for the Telestar and Gatehouse conversions included a combined 86,500 square feet of open space, including publicly accessible park space along Gatehouse Road. At least one public park space, identified in the development application as a “community play zone,” should still be provided with the Telestar apartments.
Partnering with the Fairfax County Redevelopment and Housing Authority, developer Conifer Realty broke ground on the repurposing of the four-story Telestar Court office building in June 2025. Aimed at households earning between 30% and 80% of the area median income, the 80-unit apartment building remains on track for completion by the end of this year.
“We’re making good progress toward that milestone and look forward to welcoming future residents to their new homes,” Conifer Senior Development Manager Matt Ojala said in a statement.
While details of the plans for the Gatehouse property remain to be seen, Palchik indicated to FFXnow that a residential redevelopment would align with the county’s priorities at a time of waning demand for office space, particularly in older buildings.
“Fairfax County has an urgent need for housing,” Palchik said by email. “Meeting that demand means building both market-rate and affordable options — concentrated thoughtfully where people can live close to jobs, transit, and retail. I look forward to reviewing the application when it’s submitted.”
