A McLean office complex slated for redevelopment with residential condominiums could host housing specifically for the area’s growing older population instead.
Sunrise Senior Living has a contract to acquire part of the McLean Professional Park site at 1477 Chain Bridge Road. While the sale hasn’t closed yet, the operator is already mapping out plans to use the additional 2.8 acres of land to expand on its adjacent Sunrise at McLean Village community.
In a rezoning application submitted to Fairfax County on Sept. 2, Sunrise proposes building a continuing care facility with 145 independent living units to supplement its existing assisted living community at 1515 Chain Bridge Road.
“The addition of continuing care facilities in the County’s development centers and revitalization districts is an essential component of meeting the needs of the community,” Holland & Knight land use attorney David Schneider wrote in a statement for the application, pointing to the county’s own 2025 demographic report, which projects that the number of residents 65 and older will more than double by 2045.
According to county data, McLean’s largest demographics by age are currently school-aged children and seniors, with the latter making up approximately one-fifth of its overall population of 50,810 people, as of 2025.
At the same time, approximately 93% of its existing housing units are single-family detached homes, leaving few options for both young adults and older residents who don’t want or need all that space.
“Once seniors downsize to live in the heart of Downtown McLean, additional single family dwellings will become available for the next generation of homeowners,” Schneider said.
The proposed independent living complex would be the same size and height and roughly the same square footage as a multi-family condo building contemplated by the McLean Professional Park’s current owner, T&M McLean Ventures.
Approved by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors in May 2024, the planned five-story, 104-unit building and accompanying 192-space underground parking garage would replace half of the office park’s 12 commercial townhouses. The developer had also committed to providing 12,970 square feet of publicly accessible park space along Chain Bridge Road, undergrounding all utilities and constructing a 12-foot-wide shared-use path on Chain Bridge.
Sunrise would deliver the same pedestrian improvements promised by T&M McLean, along with two urban parks inviting the public “to interact with the campus” and private courtyards and gardens for the future independent living residents.
As a condition of its contract to purchase the site, Sunrise’s proposal retains an option to move forward with the existing approval for a condo building in case the sale doesn’t go through.
The application argues that both options would have limited impacts on the surrounding community and would likely attract similar demographics of residents:
Given prevailing market conditions in Downtown McLean, the multifamily condominium product previously approved under the Condo Approval, featuring large units at price points targeting older, more affluent purchasers, would likely attract the same demographic as the proposed independent living use under Option 1. The principal distinction is that the CCF/independent living product delivers that demographic the on-site services, wellness programming, and continuum-of-care amenities integral to the Sunrise Senior Living model. These are benefits that would not be available to residents of a conventional condominium building.
If the independent living complex is approved, Sunrise would contribute $3 per gross square foot of new development toward “affordable accommodations,” the application says.
“This contribution, combined with the continued 4% Auxiliary Grant bed reservation for the existing Assisted Living Community, satisfies the Comprehensive Plan’s affordable-housing requirements for CCF development,” Schneider wrote.
Opened in spring 2023, Sunrise at McLean Village can host up to 122 residents in 61 assisted living residences and 39 units for individuals with memory loss.
The facility replaced a medical building whose original owners included the first doctor to deliver a polio vaccination to children. Approved for redevelopment in 2019, the site was a fallback for Sunrise after the Board of Supervisors rejected its initial plans for a McLean project on Kirby Road in 2017.
Sunrise also operates the Sunrise of McLean senior living, assisted living and memory care facility in western McLean at 8315 Turning Leaf Lane.
