development | FFXnow

Innovation Center Metro station area prioritized for review of possible land use changes

Published March 14, 2023 at 11:00AM | Updated March 14, 2023 at 12:04PM

The Planning Commission placed the Innovation Center TSA is the top tier for the county's planning effort (Photo courtesy handout/Fairfax County Government).

(Updated at 12:05 p.m.) Fairfax County planners agree that proposed development changes to the Innovation Center area are a top planning priority in the county’s ongoing Site-Specific Plan Amendment (SSPA) process.

At a meeting on Thursday (March 9), the Fairfax County Planning Commission voted to preliminarily place the Innovation Center Transit Station Area (TSA) in the top tier of the county’s SSPA work program, which sets the framework for the county’s review of comprehensive planning studies and plan amendments.

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After scrapped proposal, county lays out new plan for Reston Town Center North

By Fatimah Waseem

Published March 8, 2023 at 10:30AM

Reston Regional Library (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

After an unsolicited redevelopment proposal was pulled by a developer, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors is charting a new future for the Bowman Towne Court site in Reston.

At a board meeting yesterday (Tuesday), the board approved a motion by Hunter Mill District Supervisor Walter Alcorn to procure the 4.5-acre site and direct the RTC North task force to help plan its future.

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Redevelopment of Centreville Road offices as housing proposed

By Fatimah Waseem

Published March 6, 2023 at 1:15PM

A two-story office building would be redeveloped into townhouses (Photo handout Fairfax County Government).

An aging office park on Centreville Road could get new life as a developer moves to replace the property with a residential development.

An affiliate of K. Hovnanian Homes hopes to redevelop an office building at 3078 Centreville Road and a neighboring lot into a residential development called Lincoln Park II. The new complex would have 84 stacked townhouse units and 93 traditional townhouse units.

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Reston nonprofit proposes housing for low-income adults near Fairfax Towne Center

By Angela Woolsey

Published March 2, 2023 at 1:15PM

Cornerstones Housing Corporation has proposed a 34-unit, all-affordable residential building near Fairfax Towne Center (via DCS Design/Fairfax County)

In the future, currently undeveloped land on Route 50 across from Fairfax Towne Center could host housing for adults at the low end of Fairfax County’s income spectrum.

The Reston-based nonprofit Cornerstones Housing Corporation (CHC) has partnered with the Fairfax County Redevelopment and Housing Authority (FCRHA), which owns the 1.1-acre property, to potentially build a three-story, 34-unit residential building at 12116 Lee Jackson Memorial Highway.

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Golf Course Plaza redevelopment in Reston put on hold, opening door for office tenants to return

By Angela Woolsey

Published February 28, 2023 at 1:30PM

An illustrative rendering of the planned Golf Course Overlook housing development (via DCS Design/Fairfax County)

The long-awaited redevelopment of Reston’s Golf Course Plaza office building near Isaac Newton Square is going to remain a reality only on paper for a while longer.

The project is being delayed once again due to “market changes” that have required the landowner Golf Course Plaza LLC to secure new financing, attorney Shane Murphy said in a Feb. 12 letter to Fairfax County Zoning Evaluation Division Director Suzanne Wright.

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Partial tax break gets approved for Skyline redevelopment in Bailey’s Crossroads

By Fatimah Waseem

Published February 23, 2023 at 11:00AM | Updated February 27, 2024 at 6:48PM

A rendering of the planned live/work conversion of Skyline's fourth building (via Lessard Design/Fairfax County)

The redevelopment of two empty commercial buildings in the Bailey’s Crossroads areas has been approved — along with a nearly $14 million partial tax break from Fairfax County.

At a meeting on Tuesday (Feb. 21), the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved funds for the Skyline project through the county’s Economic Incentive Program, which allows qualifying properties to receive funds in the county’s five Commercial Revitalization Districts (CRDs).

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All-affordable housing with Tysons community center near Spring Hill Metro approved

By Angela Woolsey

Published February 21, 2023 at 2:15PM | Updated April 11, 2023 at 2:47PM

Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing's proposed two 20-story affordable housing buildings in Dominion Square West, seen from the southwest (via KGD Architecture/Fairfax County)

The all-affordable residential high-rises planned at Dominion Square West are officially moving forward.

During its meeting on Feb. 15, the Fairfax County Planning Commission unanimously approved the Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing’s (APAH) project, which will replace parking lots currently used by auto dealerships with two 21-story buildings.

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Consultant begins imagining possible new mixed-use district near Herndon Metro Station

By Fatimah Waseem

Published February 17, 2023 at 2:15PM

The town is planning the future of the area surrounding the Herndon Metro Station (via Town of Herndon)

A consultant tasked with studying the possibility of redeveloping 120 acres of mostly disparate parcels near the Herndon Metro station has officially begun visioning for the project.

Consultant Skidmore, Owings, Merrill is working on the Transit Related Growth (TRG) Small Area Plan, as the initiative is known in planning jargon. The consultant discussed its work so far at a Town of Herndon Planning Commission meeting yesterday (Thursday).

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Nats owner Ted Lerner remembered as ‘visionary’ for developing Tysons malls

By Angela Woolsey

Published February 16, 2023 at 1:30PM

Ted Lerner (courtesy of the Washington Nationals Baseball Club)

Before he helped oversee the Washington Nationals’ rise from cellar dwellers to World Series champions, Ted Lerner was busy building Tysons.

The real estate developer who transformed rural farmland into Fairfax County’s urban center died Sunday (Feb. 12) at the age of 91 in his Chevy Chase, Maryland, home. The cause was complications from pneumonia, as first reported by the Washington Post.

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Residents mostly embrace West Falls Church Metro redevelopment, but some fear traffic dysfunction

By Angela Woolsey

Published February 14, 2023 at 1:30PM | Updated June 28, 2023 at 5:48PM

West Falls Church Metro redevelopment rendering (via EYA)

Depending on who had the microphone, last week’s public hearing on the proposed redevelopment of Metro’s West Falls Church station suggested it will either overwhelm local roads or avert “climate arson,” to use one speaker’s phrase.

As they did earlier in the planning process, supporters of the project seemed to have an edge over skeptics at the Fairfax County Planning Commission’s meeting on Wednesday (Feb. 8), arguing that the over 1-million-square-foot development would deliver needed housing and amenities, while making the transit station area more accessible and vibrant than the parking lots that it would replace.