The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors has granted a developer the flexibility to construct townhouses in part of a Tysons neighborhood and, in return, obtained a pledge to speed up creation of a planned 5-acre Signature Park on the site.
The supervisors voted unanimously on Oct. 27 to approve proffer condition and conceptual development plan amendments allowing property owner Link Logistics to construct townhouses on three of the eight “blocks” comprising the 33.4-acre site known as The Mile.
Under the development plan approved in 2019, the three parcels — Blocks B, C and D at the north of the site along Jones Branch Drive — were designated for multifamily residential and office development. Link Logistics requested the county’s approval last fall of an option to build up to 340 townhomes instead.
Those blocks would be less dense under the townhouse alternative, but “we’ve reallocated that density” to other blocks, said Bob Brant, a land-use attorney representing the property owner.
The overall plan for The Mile maintains the previously approved range of 1,500 to 3,080 residential units and a maximum of just over 3 million square feet of total development.
Adding the townhouse option reflects current market conditions, Brant suggested.
“This is a proposal that is going to keep the progress moving forward in The Mile and in Tysons,” he said.
The updated plan will also add to the number of affordable housing units on the overall site, Brant said.
As a condition of the plan’s approval, the developer has committed to substantially complete the planned 5-acre Signature Park before the second of the three townhouse blocks is occupied.
Having that promise helped sell Providence District Supervisor Dalia Palchik on granting the project more flexibility.
“To me, that Signature Park really is the key amenity,” she said. “This can be a destination park whose benefits will extend beyond those who live here.”
The Signature Park will be located in a central location, surrounded by Block B to the west, Block C to the northwest and Block D to the north.
Palchik, in whose district The Mile is located, said townhouses were not an unreasonable option for the portion of the site where they were requested.
“We will have housing and really a beautiful park amenity in an area of Tysons that is probably the most distant from Metro,” she said. “It is an opportunity to build a different kind of community.”
Palchik was the lone supervisor to speak on the proposal. The requisite public hearing drew no speakers for or against.
Both staff and the Fairfax County Planning Commission supported the townhouse option. The McLean Citizens Association also was supportive.
In remarks, Brant said the developer plans to offer the Signature Park to the Fairfax County Park Authority. If the gift is declined, the property would then be offered to the county government, and if that too was declined, Link Logistics would operate it on its own, he said.
The Mile is roughly bounded by Westbranch Drive to the west, Jones Branch Drive to the north and east, and Westpark Drive to the south. For more than four decades, it has been home to the Westpark Business Campus.
While the redevelopment plan won approval seven years ago, work is being conducted in phases. Currently only one property — the residential Brentford at the Mile — has been completed.
Overall, six park spaces totaling about 10.5 acres are proposed across the redeveloped site. The Signature Park would be built on a parcel currently occupied by an early-1980s office building.
