By Brian Trompeter
Fairfax County Planning Commission members unanimously recommended Dec. 14 that county supervisors approve a proposal by JBG Tysons Hotel LLC to convert the former Sheraton Premiere hotel in Tysons into a residential building with up to 544 multi-family units.
Doing so would add “significantly” to the amount of housing in Tysons, said Robert Brant, the applicant’s attorney.
“Frankly, it’s in good shape,” Brant said of the 22-story, 225-foot-tall former hotel. “The building has very good bones.”
By adaptively reusing the structure, the applicant would reduce waste and conserve resources, Brant added.
“Instead of going in, scraping the site, having to toss all of those materials, we’re reusing what’s there today,” he said.
The hotel, its parking garage and interim retail stores are located within a half-mile of the Spring Hill Metro station and adjacent to Route 7, the Dulles Toll Road and Westwood Center Drive.
The site is part of the Tysons West development, approved by supervisors in 2013, and the applicant wishes to modify future residential Building C and existing Building E (the hotel) on that plan. Towers A and B on the plan also are part of this application, but the developer is not proposing changes for them.
The hospitality industry absorbed a blow during the pandemic and the hotel closed its doors in spring 2020. Its owners are “looking at the next chapter of that building’s life cycle,” Brant said.
The applicant offered the possibility of keeping Building E’s existing architecture or improve its façade. The developer would remove the hotel’s existing porte cochere. Its parking garage would remain, but its top level would be repurposed to expand urban parks in that area.
JBG Tysons Hotel LLC also aims to adjust the on-site park spaces, streetscapes and trail connections. In addition, the applicant seeks to reduce Building C’s footprint and provide 265 residential units instead of 400.
The reduction of Building C’s footprint also would permit more urban-park space, Brant said. The entire site would have 3.05 acres of park space, in addition to open-air courtyards within both buildings.
Park space A behind the hotel would have a tot lot, half sport court and open area. The area in front of the building would feature a bocce court and seating areas.
In front of Building C there would be an urban plaza directly across the street from the existing Walmart building, which also is part of the Tysons West development.
The developer would widen and enhance the existing streetscape trail along Route 7 and connect it with a ramp leading over the Dulles Toll Road.
The current approval for the Tysons West development allows for construction of 669 residential units, but the proffered-condition amendment being sought would result in 1,078, he said.
The housing units would be smaller and more affordable; 80 percent of the dwellings in the former hotel building would be studio units, Brant said.
“The applicant believes that this is an under-served, or an under-represented, housing type in the market here,” he said.
There would be at least 59 workforce-dwelling units in Building E (the former hotel) and another 34 in Building C. The developer has proposed an option to shift some of those workforce units from Building C to Building E, but make more of those dwellings available to people earning a lower percent of Area Median Income.
Planning Commission vice chairman Timothy Sergeant said he hoped the designers could use some of the former hotel’s public spaces, such as conference rooms, to create a sense of community.
“The adaptive reuse of an existing building is always unique and creative,” Sargeant said, joking that “I hope nobody expects room service when you’re done.”
The hotel was at the epicenter of the Internet era’s beginning, said commission member Mary Cortina (Braddock District), who harked back to conferences held there by AOL and other companies.
“It’s coming to a close and a full circle,” she said. “I’m glad it’s not being torn down.”
County planning staff expressed concerns about the site’s proposed dog park, but the applicant has proffered to allow additional programming in that area.
Samantha Hudson, assistant director for planning and real estate with the Fairfax County Park Authority, said the applicant is proposing numerous improvements in the amount of park space at the site, but the agency still is concerned about the quality and functionality of the parks.
“This was a hard site to try and hit those numbers with the park space,” said Kathy Lewis, Zoning Evaluation Division chief with the county’s Department of Planning and Development. “It’s a very tight space.”
Residents in Westwood Village are worried about the application’s traffic impacts, said commission member John Ulfelder (Dranesville District). Brant responded that the hotel-to-residential conversion would result in reduced traffic.
