Countywide

Potential economic and political headwinds are unlikely to derail sales and price increases Northern Virginia’s 2025 housing market, industry experts believe.

That’s good news for prospective sellers, but purchasers, especially first-time homebuyers, could face continued challenges, according to a 2025 housing market forecast publicly unveiled on Tuesday (Dec. 17) by George Mason University researchers and the Northern Virginia Association of Realtors (NVAR).


News

A plan to build 24 cottage-style independent living units on The Virginian compound along Arlington Blvd in Mantua have taken a key step forward.

The Fairfax County Planning Commission voted unanimously on Dec. 11 to recommend that the Board of Supervisors approve the new facilities at 9229 Arlington Blvd on the south side of Route 50 between Blake Lane and Nutley Street, just east of Fairfax City.


News

During their final meeting of 2024, members of the Fairfax County Planning Commission paid tribute to their colleague John Ulfelder, who is departing his post as the Dranesville representative.

Ulfelder “is very balanced in his view of all the cases,” Braddock District Commissioner Mary Cortina said at the Dec. 11 meeting. “He looks out for the people in his community as well as the rest of Fairfax County.”


News

A proposal that would bring 131 independent-living, assisted-living and memory-care units to a parcel along Route 7 in the Reston/Great Falls area is advancing to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors.

The Fairfax County Planning Commission recommended approval on Dec. 11 of the facility planned by Silverstone Senior Living at 10819 Leesburg Pike, across from Riva Ridge Road and west of Baron Cameron Avenue.


News

The Fairfax County Planning Commission gave its support last week to a mixed-use development dubbed McLean Crossing in Tysons.

The proposal for redeveloping the Commons of McLean apartments at 1640 Anderson Road will now be considered for final approval by the Board of Supervisors in the new year. Ultimately, as many as 5,000 people could call the property their home.


Countywide

Fairfax County’s overall retail environment is booming, but county leaders say targeted support is needed to assist some lagging areas.

Despite predictions even before Covid that in-person sales would be supplanted by online commerce, the brick-and-mortar retail sector remains strong across Fairfax County, according to new data presented last week to the county’s Board of Supervisors.


Countywide

A number of regional leaders are pushing back on the incoming Trump administration’s goal of having federal workers quickly return to offices five days a week.

Despite concerns about the impact of work-from-home patterns on local transit and the commercial office sector, requiring federal workers to be back in the office full-time brought concerns from speakers at a recent Dulles Area Transportation Association (DATA) forum.


Countywide

Fairfax County elected officials intend to take the same position on a proposed Tysons casino in 2025 that they held during the 2024 legislative session.

While some individual members have expressed explicit opposition to the possibility, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors as a whole has hedged its bets: it has concerns but isn’t averse to getting the power from Richmond to conduct a referendum on the matter.


News

George Mason University officials opened community engagement efforts on Wednesday (Dec. 11) to determine a development plan for the 190-acre western portion of the school’s main campus in Fairfax.

The forum at the Fairfax City Hall attracted about 100 participants and was designed to “usher in a process that gets the community engaged,” Andrew Lieber, the university’s senior associate athletic director for capital planning, said.


Countywide

By the Fairfax County government’s math, local residents are being shortchanged nearly $570 million annually in education funding by the state government.

Facing a $292.7 million gap between expected revenues and expenses projected for the coming fiscal year, county leaders would like their state lawmakers to leave from Richmond next year with some of that funding in hand.


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