Crews to raze office building, clearing way for more housing near Wiehle-Reston East

The vision for a mixed-use development — formerly known as Midline — is coming to life at Michael Faraday Drive.

Bethesda-based developer EYA plans to demolish an office building at 1840 Michael Faraday Drive within a month or so to make way for a seven-story apartment building with 229 units and around 5,000 square feet of ground-floor retail.

EYA project manager Alexander Collich said demolition permits are currently processing for the site, and the building has already been decommissioned. Collich presented the project design to Reston Association’s Design Review Board at a meeting Tuesday night.

Although the presentation was only informational with no vote required, DRB members lauded the architect for the design of the building.

Michael Wood, president of the board, said the proposal depicted a “beautiful-looking building.” Others called the mix of colors and materials on the building interesting and appropriate.

But member Bruce Ramo lamented that the site — which is near where he works — is packed with so much density.

“That is a ship that is long gone,” Ramo said.

The site is part of a major mixed-use development that courted two big-name developers in the region: JBG Smith and Chevy Chase Land Company.

EYA began building 115 townhouses as part of The Townhomes at Reston Station in the summer of 2020. The project has since been completed.

Once completed, the project will include close to 1.8 million square feet of development spread across 18 acres. Fairfax County approved the project in 2018.