A developer is proposing to turn a park into affordable housing.

Project renderings show a five-story building at 6858 Richmond Highway, which is next to The Beacon of Groveton luxury apartments.

It would create up to 52 age-restricted units, an interior courtyard, fitness areas and conference as well as community rooms, according to a proposal called Beacon Hill Senior Housing recently made available through a public portal May 4.

The property would have a parking garage. It wasn’t immediately clear if all of the property’s 34 spaces would all be inside the garage.

The developer is listed as “RH Senior Housing LLC.” Its address is the same as that of the nonprofit NFP Affordable Housing Corp, based in Bethesda.

A lawyer for the applicant didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

The proposal will require Fairfax County to approve rezoning applications and amendments.

The county previously approved a mixed-use development for the site in 2009. That involved the possibility for approximately 70,000 square feet of office and retail uses with buildings up to 85 feet in height, according to a statement of justification by the developer’s attorneys.

The proposed building would be approximately 65 feet, the attorneys wrote.

Photo via Google Maps

“Beltway Accord” Still a Mystery — More than two years after Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan and then-Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam announced plans to rebuild the American Legion Bridge, an actual, documented agreement remains elusive. Conflict over Maryland’s Capital Beltway toll lanes project has been a source of anxiety in McLean, where officials broke ground on the I-495 widening last month. [Maryland Matters]

Advocacy Groups Meet Incoming FCPS Superintendent — “On Friday, April 15, representatives of several advocacy groups met with Dr. [Michelle] Reid, as well as Fairfax County School Board Chair Stella Pekarsky and Vice Chair Rachna Sizemore Heizer, to discuss their concerns about the superintendent selection process.” [FCPS]

Registration Opens for Kids’ Summer Program — “The Fairfax County Park Authority is accepting registrations for Rec-PAC this summer at 30 elementary school locations across Fairfax County. Rec-PAC is an affordable, structured, six-week summer program for children in grades one through six featuring a different theme each week.” [FCPA]

New Concourse Planned at Dulles Airport — “A new 14-gate concourse at Dulles International Airport could open as soon as 2026 under plans outlined Wednesday…The $674.7 million project…would be the most significant upgrade to the airport in more than a decade. The planned 400,000-square-foot building would replace the single-story structure that handles regional and commuter flights at Dulles.” [The Washington Post]

Reston Station Adds Wealth Management Firm — Comstock announced on Tuesday (April 19) that the office and private investment firm Cresset Manager has signed a lease agreement for 11,500 square feet on the ninth floor of 1900 Reston Metro Plaza. The company is expected to relocate its D.C. area office, currently in Reston Town Center, to the new space in the third quarter of 2022. [Comstock]

Annandale Baseball Diamonds Renamed — “On Saturday, April 16, 2022, the Fairfax County Park Authority joined the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors and the Annandale-North Springfield Little League (ANSLL) to rename the Pine Ridge Park baseball facilities to the Kehrer Baseball Complex…The change was made to honor two longtime ANSLL volunteers Darryl and Dawn Kehrer.” [FCPA]

Design Update Coming on Richmond Highway Bus Service — The Fairfax County Department of Transportation (FCDOT) will host three in-person meetings this spring on Richmond Highway BRT. The first one is scheduled for April 28 at Bryant High School and will provide updates on the design and intersection improvements at North Kings Highway and Shields Avenue. [FCDOT]

It’s Thursday — Mostly cloudy throughout the day. High of 66 and low of 44. Sunrise at 6:25 am and sunset at 7:53 pm. [Weather.gov]

The Northern Virginia Transportation Authority wants the public’s input on more than two dozen projects that could drastically change travel in the region.

The projects cover a six-year funding span and involve over $1.2 billion in requests, though the authority acknowledged it’s not immediately clear how much funding will be available.

Launched Friday (April 15), the public input period lasts through May 22. People can comment by email, an online form, voicemail or mail as well as in-person or remote testimony at a May 12 hearing.

Fairfax County has requested a total of $572 million — the most of any jurisdiction — for seven projects:

• Fairfax Connector: $10 million to buy eight electric buses for an express route between Tysons and Franconia
• Fairfax Station: $108 million to add two lanes to Fairfax County Parkway (Route 286) for a 2-mile stretch near Route 123
• Mount Vernon District: $80 million for a $730 million project to add bus rapid transit along a 7.4-mile stretch of Route 1
• Mount Vernon: $60.2 million for a $415 million project to add two lanes to a 3.1-mile section of Route 1 and provide other multimodal upgrades
• Reston: $73.8 million for the $235 million Soapstone Connector. The planned one-mile extension of the roadway over the Dulles Toll Road will span Sunrise Valley Drive to Sunset Hills Road, providing vehicular lanes with a middle turning lane, bicycle lanes, and sidewalks.
• Seven Corners: $94.8 million to start the first segment of a “ring road” at the often congested and circuitous intersection
• Springfield: $145.2 million to extend Frontier Drive to Loisdale Road, reducing trip times and providing new access to the Franconia-Springfield Metro station and co-located Virginia Railway Express station

Fairfax County has a new name for the dedicated bus service it is planning for Richmond Highway: The One.

Transit officials revealed the name today (Friday) at a branding event for the bus rapid transit (BRT) service, which will operate starting in 2030 using new lanes separated by a grass median.

Projected to serve an estimated 15,000 passengers per day, the bus service is also envisioned as an interim step before a possible three-mile extension of Metrorail’s Yellow Line to Hybla Valley.

“It’s not just your ordinary bus,” Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay said at the event, held outside the Gerry Hyland Government Center in Mount Vernon.

Running from the Huntington Metro station to Fort Belvoir, the finished service will be the largest BRT in the state, according to Northern Virginia Transportation Authority CEO Monica Backmon.

A separate Virginia Department of Transportation project to widen the highway is also in the works.

Combined, the Route 1 widening and BRT infrastructure will require over $1 billion in funding. Once the buses are in service, the county will take on most of the costs with some assistance from the Commonwealth, Fairfax County Department of Transportation Director Tom Biesiadny told FFXnow.

VDOT’s widening project is currently pegged at $415 million, with construction slated to start in 2025. It will expand three miles of highway from four to six lanes and create separated paths on both sides of the road for cyclists and pedestrians.

According to its project page, the BRT is estimated to cost some $730 million with funding coming from local, state, federal and private sources. That includes $250 million from the NVTA.

The project is part of the county’s larger effort to boost the Route 1 corridor under the Embark Richmond Highway plan approved on March 20, 2018. County leaders say an express bus service will make the corridor safer, revitalize the area, and give commuters more options.

Lee District Supervisor Rodney Lusk said these types of projects have typically been connected with the northern and western parts of the county, but this one serves an area where it’s more needed.

The county settled on “The One” as the name for the BRT after teens and young adults in one focus group in November 2019 were drawn to the name, Fairfax County Department of Transportation spokesperson Robin Geiger said.

Mount Vernon District Supervisor Daniel Storck noted that the name carries a range of associations, from sports to marriage.

“We have spent a lot of time trying to make sure we got the right name,” he said. “This branding name is the one I think we needed to have.”