Fairfax Planning Commissioners and Tysons-based developer Cityline Partners are at a stalemate over the inclusion of workforce housing in the newly proposed Arbor Row high-rise.
Last week, commissioners opted to postpone their vote on a proposed 23-story, 270-foot residential tower at Arbor Row, set to house up to 240 units and 8,500 square feet of retail space, after county staff voiced objections about the developer’s refusal to include workforce dwelling units in the new building.
Instead, Cityline Partners has proposed either building workforce housing several miles away or making a one-time cash contribution between $4.17 and $.76 million to the county’s housing trust fund program.
“Overall, the applicant’s proposed fixed cash contribution even with a one time adjustment is not in conformance with the comprehensive plan and does not fully address the affordable housing need generated from this development,” Department of Planning and Development staff member Sunny Yang said during the April 3 Planning Commission public hearing. “So, for all these reasons, the staff is not supportive of this application.”
Initially approved by the Board of Supervisors in 2012, Arbow Row spans 19.4 acres near Tysons Galleria on Westpark Drive. The development originally envisioned 2.6 million square feet of mixed-use development, including residential, retail, hotel, and office space.
Two residential buildings, including the Monarch condominiums and Nouvelle apartments were completed last summer. The Mather, a two-building senior living facility, has finished one of two planned high-rise apartment buildings.
However, the developer decided to scrap the office building, also referred to as “Block C2,” following a decreased demand for office space.
“An office [building] is not gonna happen — we don’t believe — anytime soon,” Lynne Strobel, a land use attorney with the law firm Walsh, Colucci, Lubeley & Walsh, told commissioners during the public hearing last week. “I don’t think any of us believe that. There’s no demand.”
In addition to a new residential high-rise, the developer plans to build several amenities, including a 3-acre park, urban plaza, playground, lawn area, pavilions, and public art, according to the application.
Although commissioners commended the applicant on the design, they concluded more work needed to be done to figure out a solution to the issue of incorporating workforce housing in the project, increasing the cash contribution or moving the proposed offsite housing closer to the Tysons Corner Metro Station.
“The intent of the [workforce dwelling unit] program is to get the units at the same time and to create these mixed-income communities, and that’s that’s the problem,” Hunter Mill District representative John Carter said. “The other issue is to get the units in the same neighborhood close by and when I hear things like five miles away. It’s concerning.”
A total of 461 residential units will take the place of two vacant office buildings on Worldgate Drive in Herndon.
The Herndon Town Council unanimously approved the redevelopment proposal from Boston Properties on March 26, allowing a five-story apartment building on the western half of the property along with a two-floor parking garage, four-story townhouses and two-over-two stacked residential units.
The project will be located at 13100 and 13150 Worldgate Drive and has been under review by the town for almost two years.
The 10.4-acre site will be accessed from an entrance on Wiltshire Lane and a new right-in only entrance along Worldgate Drive. The development itself includes a street grid of private streets and alleys.
A new trail that is accessible to the public will provide a missing link to the existing trail network that connects Elden Street to the Herndon Metro station.
Two public bus stops will be relocated and upgraded with shelters, benches and trash cans. The stop along Elden Street will also have a bus pull-off bay to minimize the impact on traffic.
Lisa Gilleran, director of the town’s department of community development, told the town council that the housing development will have a significantly lower impact on traffic than the office buildings would if they were fully leased.
“Although they are empty right now, if they were to have tenants in them, [it] would actually create a much more significant traffic issue than the proposed development,” Gilleran said.
A traffic study found that the development is expected to reduce traffic by 1,448 daily trips during peak hours compared to the existing office use.
Boston Properties successfully sought a 15% reduction in the number of parking spaces required for the multi-family building, which will have 359 units. The 49 planned townhouses will be 20 and 22 feet wide for end units instead of the required 22 feet and 24 feet for end units.
David Gill, a land use attorney representing Boston Properties, said the company is excited to create a gateway community in the Town of Herndon.
“We think Worldgate has had a lot of challenges as the office market has changed under its feet,” he said.
Councilmember Donielle Scherff urged the developer to continue to conduct its due diligence as the project moves forward, drawing specifically from her experience with Boston Properties shifting Reston Town Center from free to paid parking.
“I hope that everything that happened in Reston will shed a different light with how you handle Herndon,” she said.
Sean Sullivan, the company’s vice president of development, responded that “lessons have been learned from Reston so we take that to heart.”
The townhouse portion of the project will have 35 visitor spaces allotted on the street. Garage parking is set aside for the multi-family building, whose visitors will receive a temporary key. Bicycle parking, including public racks on the street, will be provided.
A proposal to replace some office buildings in McLean Professional Park with condominiums won a unanimous recommendation from the Fairfax County Planning Commission on March 20.
During the public hearing, Dranesville District Commissioner John Ulfelder lauded property owner T&M McLean Venture’s partial redevelopment plan as “a great opportunity” that will further the county’s efforts to rejuvenate downtown McLean.
“Overall…this proposal is quite consistent with part of what we were trying to accomplish when we revised the comprehensive plan for McLean, or the [Community Business Center] portion,” Ulfelder said, “which was to bring in more residents, and so on and make this a more 24/7 place with opportunities for residential and commercial [activity].”
Adjacent to Sunrise of McLean Village, a senior living community that opened last spring, McLean Professional Park was built in 1980 and currently consists of 12 townhouse-style office buildings, all topping out at two or three stories tall.
T&M is seeking to replace six of those buildings with a five-story, 104-unit multi-family condo building, which requires rezoning 2.8 acres of the 4.4-acre site at 1477 Chain Bridge Road from a commercial district to a planned residential mixed-use (PRM) district.
The 235,000-square-foot, 68-foot-tall building will feature an underground parking garage with 192 spaces, along with 13 surface spaces. A 12,970-square-foot, publicly accessible corner park will add an open lawn, walking paths, shade structures and landscaping along Chain Bridge Road, and residents will have access to a private courtyard with a multi-use lawn, grilling and seating areas, and firepits.
The developer has also offered to construct a 12-foot-wide shared-use path on Chain Bridge, complemented by street trees, bicycle racks and cafe tables.
“It’s really going to be a pleasant environment for pedestrians who are walking along the street, but [it] also serves as a respite area,” Lynne Strobel, the applicant’s representative, said. “If people are walking, they could stop here, you know, sit down for a few minutes, or if they’re biking, they can stop, they can fix their bike.”
T&M also worked with Sunrise to improve their shared access point off of Chain Bridge, which “was identified as kind of an issue today,” Strobel told the commission. A traffic study found that the shift to a mix of residential and office uses will reduce trips to the site, since residents and workers will likely travel at different times of the day.
However, one resident opined in the public hearing that “McLean is becoming a European city” without the infrastructure to support the incoming development. She said it already takes her an hour to drive across McLean and questioned whether the ongoing crowding at local schools was considered. Read More
A tent encampment housing between 20 and 35 individuals in the woods between Inova’s emergency room and Sunrise Assisted Living Center in Reston may soon fold.
Fairfax County officials hope to open up a temporary overflow shelter in a government building in the Reston Town Center North area to accommodate the people who’ve been living in the tents.
“No Trespassing” signs are set to go up around the encampment, which is located on county property, in the coming weeks, as the county’s hypothermia shelters close their doors for the 2023-2024 winter season on Sunday (March 31).
The Reston encampment is the largest one in the county, according to Hunter Mill District Supervisor Walter Alcorn. Cornerstones — the nonprofit that runs Reston’s Embry Rucker Community Shelter — and its outreach teams plan to discuss their options with residents as the transition is phased in over the coming weeks.
“It’s really an unmanaged campground,” Alcorn said yesterday (Wednesday) in a call with media. “You know, if you walk through and talk to people, that’s really how its functioning at this point. So, I have concerns about, frankly, the safety of the folks living there now and the personal safety.”
Many details of the overflow shelter, including when it will open and how many people it can fit, remain to be determined, but it’s intended to help wind down activities in the encampment that has occupied the hill for years.
In some cases, neighbors have complained about the encampment, though data on how many police calls have been placed wasn’t immediately available.
According to Alcorn, there have been issues at the Reston Regional Library and reports of break-ins in some of the surrounding communities, but he cautioned that it would be “unfair” to attribute all incidents to the encampment.
Sunrise recently put up a fence around their property, creating a buffer between their property and the encampment.
Alcorn said he asked staff for an “effective and humane” plan for winding down the camp. He emphasized that its future is already in limbo because that property and the rest of Reston Town Center North are slated for major redevelopment. Plans call for a new Embry Rucker shelter and a new library, though an earlier agreement with a private developer fell through.
The encampment first began as a handful of tents but has since grown substantially. Reston Strong, a local nonprofit organization, began offering support to the area, providing food, tents and other supplies.
The organization launched a Neighbors in Tents campaign in 2022 to raise awareness about homelessness in Fairfax County. A temporary tent community was set up in front of the North County Governmental Center (1801 Cameron Glen Drive) as an alternative after the county’s hypothermia and COVID-19 emergency shelters closed for the season.
The organization called for permanent solutions to address homelessness in the county, which saw a 10% increase in people experiencing homelessness from 2022 to 2023. The results of the county’s most recent point-in-time count — an annual survey of the number of people without housing — are expected to be released in May.
Reston Strong says it welcomes the plans for a temporary overflow shelter to assist “our most vulnerable residents,” but it still has “many unaddressed concerns and questions.”
“We have not received answers from the county about when the shelter will be ready or if there is enough capacity for the Hill residents and those already in hypothermia, but we have been told via a letter from Supervisor Alcorn that no trespassing sign will be posted and we are not allowed to set up new tents,” Reston Strong organizer Sarah Selvaraj-Dsouza said. “The Hill will be closed in the near future for the planned land swap with Inova. We are hoping for a timely resolution that meets everyone’s needs.”
Alcorn said the logistics of the overflow shelter are still being ironed out.
News of a plan to clear the encampment comes as the county’s Redevelopment and Housing Authority prepares to implement a $20 million agreement that will provide housing for those in need, specifically individuals with serious mental illnesses.
Starting in May, the county will receive 300 new supportive rental assistance vouchers for residents over three years and three new staff positions to manage the program.
Alcorn says both initiatives are the beginning of important steps to addressing chronic homelessness.
“It’s going to make a big dent in the problem,” he said of the voucher program.
Fairfax County is taking steps to make affordable housing more accessible to people dealing with serious mental illness.
The Fairfax County Redevelopment and Housing Authority (FCRHA) will implement a major increase in rental assistance for people with serious mental illness, thanks to a $20 million agreement approved earlier this month with the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services (DBHDS).
“The additional funding is expected to help prevent homelessness among individuals with serious mental illness, as well as reduce census at state psychiatric hospitals,” the FCRHA announced on March 15 reads.
Starting in May, the approved agreement will fund 300 new supportive rental assistance vouchers for Fairfax County residents over three years and three new staff positions to manage the program.
“The new Fairfax County program supports an identified need for permanent supportive housing as noted in the Fairfax County Countywide Strategic Plan,” FCRHA spokesperson Allyson Pearce told FFXnow, adding that funding needs will be evaluated over time.
Details on how the 300 recipients will be chosen are still coming together, Pearce said, but the program will prioritize:
- Individuals experiencing long-term or repeated episodes of homelessness
- Individuals and those whose housing instability frequently leads to crisis, hospital visits, or contact with criminal justice systems
- Individuals leaving state psychiatric hospitals
- People residing in congregate care settings with a high concentration of individuals with serious mental illness
The Fairfax County Community Services Board (CSB) will coordinate referrals from “various stakeholders,” such as state hospitals and the federal Continuum of Care program, according to the FCRHA release.
A separate partnership with the nonprofit Pathways Homes will allow the 300 participants to receive additional supportive services. Fifty of the participants will also have access to services like psychiatry and case management as well as funds for the expenses needed to lease a housing unit.
“The remaining 250 participants will be coupled with two Supportive Housing Teams under a separate contract,” the release states.
Fairfax County Department of Housing and Community Development Director Tom Fleetwood said in the release that increasing access to affordable housing reduces homelessness, and is essential in getting a person back on their feet.
“That is why this funding is so important,” Fleetwood said. “It provides critical support services along with rental assistance needed for people to be successful in their new home.”
Photo via Fairfax County
A bid to convert a parking lot in Falls Church into a mixed-use development may be in jeopardy after local officials raised concerns about housing affordability, walkability, sustainability and a lack of green space.
“I’ve gone through pretty much all the policy arguments the council has made for granting special exceptions, and this project doesn’t meet any of them,” Falls Church City Council member David Snyder said during a work session earlier this month. “So, I think frankly it’s a waste of resources until the proposer comes back with a development that truly is special and meets our special exception ordinance from a technical standpoint and policy standpoint.”
Maryland-based developers Cascade Realty and Stewart Investment Partners are seeking to transform the parking lot at S. Maple Avenue and W. Annandale Road — adjacent to the Harris Teeter at 301 W Broad Street — into a seven-story, 196-unit multifamily residential building, per a city staff report.
Submitted in December, the plan also proposes 11,930 square feet of commercial space, including a co-working space and child care center, and a parking garage with 259 spaces.
Stewart Investment acquired a portion of the land at 419 W. Annandale Road in 2022, and intends to purchase the remaining land from the city and Burke & Herbert Bank, with which the firm has entered into a “conceptual agreement.”
However, for the project to move forward, developers must first obtain a special exception to change the property’s zoning to a residential use.
At the March 4 work session, multiple council members contended that the project, in its present form, failed to meet the criteria necessary to earn a special exception.
The developer has suggested that 6% of the total units, amounting to 12 units, be priced at 60% of the area median income. It also plans to collaborate with CRi, a Chantilly-based nonprofit that offers supports, including housing, for individuals with developmental disabilities.
However, council members voiced concern that this percentage was too low and might not cater to a wide-enough range of individuals.
“If you’re partnering with CRi, 60% is $63,000 in annual income,” Councilmember Caroline Lin said. “You might have to step that down for individuals in the population that you’re trying to serve. So, I just want to make sure, if you partner with the CRi, you don’t over-set an income to not serve the population that they’re serving.”
Members also raised concerns about the lack of green space and electric vehicle chargers in the site plan. They questioned why the developers aim to achieve LEED Silver certification, not LEED Gold — the second-highest rating for green buildings, following Platinum.
Additionally, several members took issue with the development’s current design, arguing it could cause traffic congestion and pedestrian safety issues. Read More
Another Tysons office building is set to be transformed into housing.
After a public hearing on Tuesday (March 19), the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved a proposal to convert the three-story office building at 8221 Old Courthouse Road into 55 multi-family apartments, including six workforce dwelling units.
About 70% of the apartments will have one bedroom, but some two-bedroom units will also be provided, according to Walsh Colucci Lubeley & Walsh land use attorney Robert Brant, who represented the property owner and developer, a Dittmar Company affiliate, at the hearing.
While the existing 45,000-square-foot building will stay intact, the development will bring pedestrian and streetscape improvements to Old Courthouse and Lord Fairfax roads, including new sidewalks, landscaping and crosswalks at the intersection.
The plan replaces about 90 parking spaces with open space, including a publicly accessible, 7,840-square-foot pocket park and a private, 8,400-square-foot outdoor space for residents. Amenities available to the public will include 6-foot-wide walkways, pergolas, benches and bicycle racks, while the private space will provide movable seating, tables, grill stations and stormwater facilities, such as a rain garden.
“We were very focused on the green space, and I believe the homeowners or renters would want that as well,” Providence District Supervisor Dalia Palchik said of the county’s negotiations with the developer.
However, the trade-off of parking spots for green space has left some area residents concerned that traffic for the new apartments will spill into their neighborhoods and disrupt travel to and from nearby Freedom Hill Elementary School.
Dittmar agreed to retain 66 spaces in the existing parking lot and add striping for eight spaces on Lord Fairfax Road, meeting the county’s minimum requirement.
One homeowner’s association sent a letter to the board on Feb. 21 worrying that the apartment residents will compete for parking currently used by parents when dropping off and picking up their kids, Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay said.
At the public hearing, one resident whose daughter walks to Freedom Hill said she’s concerned about increased traffic and safety at the Old Courthouse/Lord Fairfax intersection. Claudia Stein, who lives on Lord Fairfax Road across from the site, urged the developer to keep at least 30 more parking spaces.
“There is always more demand for parking than anticipated,” Stein said. “The apartment residents and guests will be forced to park on the street in the neighborhood, which will take away parking from existing residents.”
Residents have also been advocating for the county to close a gap in the sidewalk on the west side of Lord Fairfax Road, Stein said. As a temporary measure, the gap has been filled with gravel, but vehicles sometimes park on the gravel, forcing students and other pedestrians into the road.
After confirming the location of the sidewalk gap, supervisors said they can’t compel the developer to address it, since it’s not on their property. Providence District Supervisor Dalia Palchik confirmed that her office will work with Stein to see what can be done by the county.
“It just seems like a great opportunity for our [department of transportation] to work with the property owner to maybe make an improvement in the future,” McKay said.
In response to the concerns about traffic, Brant told the board that shifting the property from office to housing will reduce parking demand and vehicle trips, which are projected to drop by 75% during the morning rush hour and 77% in the evening rush hour.
For some supervisors, the big sticking point was the developer’s commitment to only meeting the county’s minimum — 2% of parking spaces — for electric vehicle charging stations. That amounts to just two of the 66 provided spaces.
“I literally got sent an article yesterday about how electric vehicles and gas-powered cars are starting to level out in cost,” Dranesville District Supervisor Jimmy Bierman said. “If you want this building to be good for residents 10 years down the line, you’re going to need more than 1.32 spaces, so please provide more.”
McKay suggested that the developer consider pre-wiring some spaces so they can support EV chargers “in the future if the demand is there.”
Dittmar is “willing” to look at providing more EV charging stations, Brant said.
“We’ve had discussions internally about how more and more electric vehicles are on the road these days,” Brant told the board. “More residents want that as an amenity, so there’s a chance that, once we get into the construction phase of this, there will be an opportunity to add more. So, that’s something the applicant will consider.”
Nearly two dozen single-family homes could be on the horizon for Gallows Road in Annandale.
MS-Gallows, which appears to be an affiliate of the builder Madison Homes is seeking to build 22 single-family homes at 3400 Gallows Road near I-495 and Woodburn Elementary School.
The proposal would require Fairfax County to rezone the property to increase the density of the maximum number of permitted dwellings.
Currently occupied by single-family houses originally built in the 1930s to 1950s, the nearly 5.6-acre property is surrounded by residential uses, including single-family neighborhoods to the north, south and east of the area. The Raintree townhouses are located to the west of the property.
Roughly 31% of the property is set aside as open space, including five tree preservation areas.
The homes would be up to 35 feet in height, creating an “appropriate transition” between the higher-density townhouses to the west and the larger, established communities on the other sides of the property, according to the application.
“The proposed development is designed to complement the adjacent neighborhoods and integrate the proposed community into the fabric of the existing area,” Walsh Colucci land use attorney Lynne Strobel wrote in a statement of justification for the application.
The developer plans to eliminate seven existing curb cuts along Gallows Road and create a single-access point to Gallows Road for the new community. That entryway to the site will be as far east as possible in order to avoid conflicting with the existing townhouse community, the application says.
Each home will have a two-car garage and room for two additional cars in each driveway, resulting in 88 parking spaces.
Though neighbors have rejected the possibility of an inter-parcel connection, the developer has offered to build a 10-foot-wide shared-use trail in front of the site along Gallows Road. Five-foot-wide sidewalks are also planned on both sides of a new internal private street through the planned subdivision.
The southwestern portion of the site will have a residential amenity area with a terraced lawn, seating areas, a “meandering” mown path and spaces for lawn games and play equipment, according to the application.
“The proposed development has been thoughtfully designed and is characterized by the consolidation of eight distinct parcels, the implement of new stormwater management facilities to protect on-site environmental features; and the installation of high-quality landscaping in combination with the preservation of existing mature trees,” the application states.
Submitted on March 13, the proposal has not yet been accepted for formal review by the county.
Image via Google Maps
An official proposal is on the table to redevelop an office complex adjacent to the Tysons-Pimmit Regional Library with townhouses.
The owner of 7600 Leesburg Pike submitted plans to Fairfax County on Friday (March 15) for a 165-unit townhouse development that would replace the existing 4-story office buildings. Built in 1986, the 230,620-square-foot property’s current tenants include Westgate Realty Group, Oak Hill Montessori and Standard Healthcare Services’ College of Nursing.
Townhouses would provide a more compatible transition between Route 7 and the single-family homes to the rear than the “more intense office use,” the application argues.
“The Applicant’s proposal is characterized by high-quality site design,” Walsh Colucci land use agent Lynne Strobel wrote in a statement of justification for the property owner. “…The proposed building will be consistent in character and scale with the various residential developments in the surrounding community.”
Sandwiched between the library and Saint Luke’s Methodist Church, the roughly 10-acre site in Pimmit Hills is already envisioned as a future residential development in Fairfax County’s comprehensive plan, but an increase in density is needed to accommodate the property owner’s proposal.
Requested by the developer Elm Street Communities in 2022, a plan amendment to allow 12 to 16 dwelling units per acre — which would yield 122 to 162 townhomes — will be reviewed by the county in conjunction with the new rezoning application.
Right now, the county recommends a density of five to eight units per acre. The increase would result in a development similar to the Tysons Ridge townhouses now under construction on the other side of the church building.
The proposed development will consist of 55 “traditional” single-family townhouses along the north and west perimeter and 110 stacked, two-over-two, multi-family townhomes.
In the statement of justification dated March 1, Strobel notes that the developer will provide recreational amenities, including common open spaces that will be publicly accessible and an extension of a shared-use trail.
The development plan shows four urban parks totaling more than 33,000 square feet in size, or 0.77 acres, and featuring a playground, a dog park, a pickleball court, open play areas and seating or gathering spaces.
“These open spaces will be highly visible and easily accessible by walking and/or biking,” the plan says. “They will be fully landscaped with a consistent aesthetic to create a sense of community identity. These spaces will consist of high quality materials…and will provide varied opportunities for socializing, small-scale recreation, passive activities, and future connectivity with the larger residential community and surrounding neighborhoods.”
Each residence will also have a private yard, according to the application.
As part of the project, the developer intends to extend Kilgore Road through the site to Leesburg Pike, constructing one 10-foot-wide travel lane in each direction.
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors has approved the transformation of Rudy’s Golf and Sports Bar in Kingstowne into 17 acres of single-family homes and public parks.
Last week, supervisors unanimously endorsed a proposal by Maryland-based EYA Development to redevelop the property at 6626 South Van Dorn Street. The roughly 17.4-acre site hosted the first Top Golf in the U.S. until the facility closed in early 2020 and Rudy’s opened in 2022.
The project will include 174 single-family homes, 18 of which will be designated as affordable, and several acres of public parks.
The approval comes nearly a decade after a more intensive version of the project was first proposed in 2015. Since then, the proposal has changed multiple times after facing public backlash over concerns about traffic congestion, compatibility with the neighborhood and stormwater management.
Following extensive public feedback, the number of homes in the plan was reduced from 275 to 174, and the idea for thousands of square feet of retail space was scrapped altogether.
Despite those changes, some community members and Franconia Land Use Committee representatives continued to speak out publicly against the proposal up until last month, when the Fairfax County Planning Commission voted unanimously to advance the plan.
Those who spoke during a January public hearing on a comprehensive plan amendment that would allow residential development at the site argued that the density remained excessively high and expressed concerns over traffic congestion and environmental effects.
However, EYA representatives addressed traffic concerns by presenting an analysis that showed traffic would reduce after redevelopment compared to if the property stayed the same. The developer also plans to construct a new underground detention vault and multiple bioretention facilities to control stormwater drainage.
With each successive vote, the number of people turning out against the project has declined. During the latest public hearing on March 5, only two people spoke — both of them in favor of the project.
“The developer of this proposal…has sought input from neighboring communities and environmental groups throughout this process, resulting in a well-designed plan that deserves support,” said Sonya Breehy, Northern Virginia advocacy manager for the Coalition for Smarter Growth.
Breehy also highlighted the critical need for more housing amid a region-wide shortage.
Board Chairman Jeff McKay highlighted the absence of opposition during the public hearing, attributing the positive outcome to the county’s patience and commitment to “get it right.”
“I, for one, am glad to say that we resisted many plans that would have been insufficient, certainly inferior to the plan that we see here today, as many people have acknowledged,” he said.
