At this time last year, hopes remained high that two long-vacant office buildings at a prominent Reston intersection would soon be gone, making way for new housing and retail.
Instead of watching that mixed-use development take shape, however, nearby residents find themselves still contending with an eyesore in a neighborhood that has reportedly become a magnet for trespassing, vandalism and other property issues.
Residents near the empty buildings at 1831 and 1861 Wiehle Avenue say people have been breaking in, leaving graffiti and setting fires, living in tents or vehicles in the area, and relieving themselves.
The vines and brush that have grown up around the buildings have also become a source of frustration, leading to accusations that property owner JBG Smith is neglecting the site.
As of Sept. 14, Fairfax County police had been called to 1831 and 1861 Wiehle Avenue 11 times this year, according to data shared with FFXnow.
Six calls (four at 1831 and two at 1861) were for people trespassing on the private properties owned by developer JBG Smith. There have also been three calls for general police service at 1831 Wiehle, and one each for a “suspicious event” and a domestic dispute at 1861 Wiehle.
“The domestic dispute involved a mother and daughter and occurred outside the building. The suspicious event involved a man and woman arguing in a wooded area behind the building,” the Fairfax County Police Department said. “Neither incident was directly associated with the building itself.”
JBG Smith declined to comment, but a spokesperson for Hunter Mill District Supervisor Walter Alcorn, who represents the Reston area, confirmed his office has “heard from some residents about the situation.”
“We’ve reached out to JBG which is working on a plan,” the spokesperson said.
Concerns tied to homeless services center
According to one nearby resident, the trespassing and vandalism on JBG’s properties are symptomatic of issues that have become prevalent throughout the neighborhood due to the presence of the Reston Remakery.
Established last year by the community advocacy nonprofit Reston Strong, the youth-led initiative offers food, clothes, laundry and other services to people experiencing homelessness out of rented space in the Faraday Professional Center at 1820 Michael Faraday Drive. The office building is adjacent to JBG Smith’s 1831 Wiehle property.
“They’ve pretty much moved into the neighborhood,” the resident said on the condition of anonymity. “Some have set up tents, some have slept in cars. They’ve urinated and defecated around the community.”
“The idea was for them to go there, I think, get the services they need and then leave, and it seems like some of them are just here all the time,” he added.
Reston Strong began working on plans for a non-residential day center in spring 2024, when Fairfax County was preparing to clear a longstanding encampment on the future site of the planned Reston Town Center North development.
While the county opened a temporary facility in Reston and then a permanent family shelter in the Fair Oaks area that freed up beds at the Embry Rucker Community Shelter, the public shelters are typically closed during the day, and space remains limited, even as homelessness levels remain elevated in the region post-pandemic.
Reston Remakery was intended to fill that gap, providing services and a place for people to stay during the day.
However, the resident says some individuals have been causing “problems” at the JBG Smith buildings as well as the Faraday Professional Center and residential complexes, including the Townhomes at Reston Station and Lofts at Reston Station.
“It’s been an issue affecting all of us, not just JBG Smith,” the resident said.
FFXnow has reached out to Reston Strong and the Reston Remakery for comment but didn’t receive a response by press time.
Signs warning of prosecution for trespassing, loitering, sleeping, and alcohol and drug possession were recently installed on the Faraday Professional Center’s property.
According to the FCPD, the sign appears to be privately owned, likely installed by the property owner under a county code change adopted by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors on June 23.
Aligning the county with state law, the code now lets private property owners designate the police or other law enforcement to address trespassing on their behalf — as long as the person is notified verbally or in writing that they’re trespassing, or made aware via posted signs that trespassing isn’t allowed.
Sonina Properties, which owns the Faraday Professional Center, didn’t immediately respond to an inquiry from FFXnow.
The resident says there are plans for Alcorn’s office, the FCPD, Reston Strong, Faraday Professional Center and representatives of residential neighborhoods to meet about the neighbors’ concerns, possibly in October.
Future plans for vacant office sites unknown
Longer term, JBG’s plan for the vacant properties remains unclear.
The two office buildings are part of the Reston Midline development approved by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors in December 2018. Conceived by JBG Smith and fellow developer EYA, the plan called for 1.8 million square feet of mixed-use development across 17.5 acres in the southeast quadrant of Wiehle Avenue and Sunset Hills Road.
Some portions of the project have since come to fruition, including 113 townhouses completed by EYA in June 2024, but the promised multi-family residential and office buildings have been slower to emerge.
JBG Smith had sold the 1831 and 1861 Wiehle properties to Comstock Companies, the developer behind Reston Station on the west side of Wiehle Avenue, for $60 million in August 2022. At that time, Comstock indicated that it was planning to move forward with the mix of office, residential and retail development that had been approved for the approximately 8-acre parcels, anticipating starting construction in 2023.
While that timeline obviously didn’t pan out, the developer still secured a leasing deal in 2024 for The Fresh Market, which would anchor a planned senior living building on the block where 1831 Wiehle Avenue currently stands with a 27,000-square-foot grocery store.
Then, after sharing that it expected to demolish the existing office buildings by the end of 2025, Comstock received the county’s approval to explore age-restricted apartments as an alternative model to the independent living facility previously expected on the 1831 Wiehle site, suggesting it remained committed to the development.
But community members learned in May at a Reston Planning & Zoning Committee meeting on a nearby but separate project that ownership of 1831 and 1861 Wiehle Avenue had reverted back to JBG Smith and Comstock would no longer be the developer for those blocks.
Neither JBG nor Comstock have commented publicly on the status of the properties, though the latter still listed the Midline District as a project in its development pipeline in a May 14 presentation to investors. That presentation forecast a 2028 delivery date for 1.2 million square feet of development, including 1,100 residential units.
Though the future of JBG’s properties remains up in the air, construction activity did begin this July on a vacant lot on the north side of Reston Station Blvd near the existing Townhomes at Reston Station. EYA is slated to build an apartment building there with 227 units and 5,000 square feet of retail under the original 2018 Reston Midline plan.
The developer didn’t provide information on when it anticipates finishing construction.
