Housing proposed to replace vacant office building in Westfields business park

Another office building in the sprawling Westfields section of Chantilly is being targeted for redevelopment as housing.

Developer Network Realty Partners wants to replace a vacant office building at 14101 Newbrook Drive and some of the adjacent office building’s parking lot with 109 single-family townhouses and two multi-family condominium buildings, according to a rezoning application submitted to Fairfax County on Friday (March 8).

The adjacent office building at 14200 Park Meadow Drive, whose tenants include homebuilder Stanley Martin’s Northern Virginia office, and enough parking to exceed the required minimum amount of spaces will be retained.

According to a statement of justification for the application, the proposed “Newbrook Park” development will further the “goals of creating an overall mixed-use 24/7 environment in the Westfields International Business Park,” as laid out in the county’s comprehensive plan for the Dulles Suburban Center.

“The Applicant’s proposal will replace an obsolete office building that has been vacant for multiple years, along with acres of excess impervious surface parking, with an integrated community of single family attached and multifamily dwellings,” the application said. “This proposal will implement the vision of increased residential use in Westfields…and with the varied unit sizes, will target the missing middle population of the County.”

Built in 1999, the 69,679-square-foot office building on Newbrook Drive “has been vacant for multiple years,” according to Network Realty Partners, which submitted the application under the names NRP Corporate Point Acquisition LLC and NRP Park Meadow Acquisition LCC.

County records indicate that the 166,380-square-foot Park Meadow Drive building is even older, having been constructed in 1989.

Both sites were part of the Westfields development plan originally approved by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors in 1985, which zoned about 1,027 acres to mostly industrial districts. Known in the comprehensive plan as “Land Unit J,” the area is primarily developed with offices, but portions have been carved out over the years and rezoned for housing or other uses.

Stanley Martin built the Stonebrook at Westfields condos to the north, for instance, and construction is underway on the once-controversial Boulevards townhouses and condos to the southwest. A proposal to replace the nearby Park East Corporate Center with housing is under county review.

A total of 2,474 residential units have been approved in Land Unit J, which has a recommended ceiling of 5,500 units, per the comprehensive plan.

For Newbrook Park, Network Realty Partners plans to spread townhouses “throughout the proposed community,” according to the application.

The two condo buildings will total six residential units. One will be located to the south along Park Meadow Drive, and the other will be to the east along Newbrook Drive, per the development plan.

Affordable and workforce dwelling units will be provided in accordance with Fairfax County’s policies, though the exact number isn’t specified.

As part of the project, the developer is working with the Westfield Business Owners Association to implement a “stroll” — an 8-foot-wide walking path — that will ultimately connect the site to the Wegmans-anchored Field at Commonwealth shopping center west of Westfields Blvd.

“A pocket park area is shown in the northern portion of the proposed development to serve as the ‘catch-point’ for the stroll as it enters the Property from the north,” the application said. “The stroll is then taken through the northern portion of the Property via linear parks to a safe crossing point at the intersection of Newbrook Road and Parkeast Circle.”

The pocket park will include a public plaza area, seating and green space for both passive and active recreation, according to the plan, which suggests that the park could be expanded in the future.

The developer has also offered to add a pedestrian crossing at Park Meadow Drive to connect the on-site portion of the stroll to existing trails on the road’s south side.