Another portion of the Woodland Park suburban office complex south of Herndon is set to turn into a mostly residential neighborhood.
At its Oct. 27 meeting, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved plans from The Pinkard Group, a D.C.-based real estate investment firm, to redevelop approximately 34 acres of the office park at 2291 Wood Oak Drive in McNair with 429 to 584 homes.
Most existing structures on the site, including three six-story office buildings, a one-story day care center and at least one of three parking garages, would be demolished to make way for the proposed Parkline at Woodland Park development.
“Woodland Park is a very nice community and has built out very well over time,” Brian Winterhalter, a real estate attorney with DLA Piper representing the applicant, said at the board’s public hearing. “This is filling in one of the last remaining big areas of surface parking, so we’re excited to move forward with the project.”
The Pinkard Group’s submitted rezoning application allows for two possible redevelopment scenarios:
- Option 1 would deliver up to 429 residential units, including 319 traditional townhomes and 110 stacked townhomes
- Option 2 would include up to 584 units with a mix of 244 traditional townhouses, 110 stacked townhomes and a 4-story, 230-unit multifamily apartment building
In both cases, the developer would retain the 6-story Plaza Ridge I office building (2251 Corporate Park Drive) on the eastern end of the property and its accompanying parking garage. A second existing parking garage would also stay if the second option with a multifamily building is ultimately pursued.
The Pinkard Group has agreed to meet the Reston Comprehensive Plan’s affordable housing recommendations, which would produce either 51 workforce dwelling units (WDUs) or 52 affordable dwelling units (ADUs) under the first option and 70 WDUs and ADUs under the second option, according to a county staff report.
The units would be reserved for households earning between 60 and 100% of the area median income, which is currently $166,100 for a family of four as calculated for the D.C. area by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The proposed development would include 2.8 acres of park space under option 1 or 2.68 acres under option 2. The developer is also planning to replace a sidewalk along Sunrise Valley Drive with a 10-foot-wide shared-use path and construct an 8-foot-wide asphalt trail parallel to the Dulles Airport Access Road to the north.
The northeastern portion of the neighborhood would be shielded from the highway by a 15-foot-tall noise wall.
A portion of the Wood Oak Drive right-of-way would be vacated to allow for the development and accommodate a future extension of Woodland View Drive. Per the county staff report, the actual road extension would be delivered once the South Pointe I and II office buildings at 2300 and 2350 Corporate Park Drive, just east of the Parkline site, are redeveloped.
While no plans for those buildings have been submitted, the Board of Supervisors approved a proposal last year to redevelop the nearby Woodland Park East offices with housing and a self-storage facility.
The Parkline at Woodland Park applications secured the Fairfax County Planning Commission’s support at its Sept. 23 meeting. The Board of Supervisors public hearing didn’t draw any testimony from the community.
Before the county board voted, Dranesville District Supervisor Jimmy Bierman lauded The Pinkard Group’s plans as a step in the right direction for the increasingly residential Woodland Park area, which he represents.
“This is old, obsolete office buildings with big surface parking. This is definitely moving to a better use for this area and this space,” Bierman said, noting that the amount of proposed park space exceeds county requirements. “We talk about needing housing. This is a great opportunity.”
