Social media giant TikTok appears to be eyeing space in Herndon.
Fairfax County’s land use database shows that the video-sharing service has applied for a permit at 13641 Sunrise Valley Drive near the Innovation Center Metro station.
The application was accepted by the county on Feb. 8 to allow commercial additions and alterations for a new tenant layout, but it’s unclear how much square footage the company will lease or what function the space will serve.
TikTok didn’t return multiple requests for comment from FFXnow. The applicant address listed on county permits is for the company’s California office at 5800 Bristol Parkway in Culver City, according to documents reviewed by FFXnow.
The company originated in 2016 when ByteDance, a Chinese technology company, launched the video-sharing platform Douyin. After success in China and Thailand, the company expanded in 2018 under the brand TikTok, which has since become one of the world’s most dominant social media apps.
In recent years, TikTok has come under scrutiny in the U.S. for its Chinese ties, which have raised national security issues, and its possible effects on children and teens. The company’s CEO and other social media leaders testified before Congress on Jan. 31, as federal lawmakers consider privacy, safety and content regulations.
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin has prohibited TikTok on state government devices, and he advocated for a ban on the platform for kids under 18.
This is not the first time that permits by TikTok have surfaced in the county’s database. Last year, a permit application for an interior tenant fit-out at 1900 Reston Metro Plaza was submitted in August but then quickly voided.
At the time, the company didn’t respond to comment requests from FFXnow. A representative for Comstock, the developer that owns the property, told FFXnow there was “no deal in progress at Reston Station” for TikTok.
TikTok established its global headquarters in Singapore and Culver City in 2020. Its owner, ByteDance, also has offices in the Seattle area, New York City, Chicago and D.C., among other U.S. cities.
Image via Google Maps
Missing pedestrian links along Sunrise Valley Drive in Reston may soon be filled following the acquisition of land.
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors formally accepted land at 11810 Sunrise Valley Drive from developer JBG Smith, which owns the Sheraton hotel there.
The acquisition will allow the county to complete a 10-foot-wide walkway from Reston Parkway to Soapstone Drive.
The gift comes after JBG Smith — which owns one of the parcels affected by the walkway — declined to grant limited land rights to construct the project. The company instead asked the county to take ownership of the parcel in its entirety, according to a board matter introduced by Hunter Mill District Supervisor Walter Alcorn on yesterday (Tuesday).
“Acceptance of this small parcel would allow the county to avoid condemnation to complete the Sunrise Valley Drive pedestrian enhancements and would provide the county with land to make one or more small improvements on this open space in the future,” Alcorn wrote in the board matter.
County staff have previously said construction is expected to begin this winter on the project, which will improve existing walkways and install missing links along 1,500 linear feet on the north side of Sunrise Valley Drive.
According to the the board’s transportation priorities plan, roughly $8.8 million has been recommended over six years to install separated bicycle lanes and pedestrian facilities on the north side of Sunrise Valley Drive.
Image via Google Maps
A new dog park is proposed at Russell at Reston Station, an apartment community at 11500 Commerce Park Drive.
The building owner, ST Wiehle LLC, is seeking to build the dog park in place of an open lawn after seeing many community members and residents use the existing park for their dogs.
“Due to the popularity of this activity that has resulted in wear and tear on the open lawn area, the applicant proposed to replace the open lawn area with a formalized dog park,” a land use planner representing the applicant said in a letter to the Fairfax County Department of Planning and Zoning.
The application asks the department to confirm that the “minor design modifications” can be approved administratively, without requiring public hearings.
Located in the mid-block on the north side of Sunrise Valley Drive, the open lawn park is one of three located on the property.
According to the application, the existing shade structures, seating, mosaic area and paving will remain. Additions include artificial turf with drainage, a pet waste area, planters, round stools, solid-form benches and 1,590 square feet of concrete paving at the park’s entrance to match the existing sidewalk.
The previous lawn would also be converted into impervious turf to allow water to flow through a a layer of gravel before filtration.
A plant bed will be installed on both sides of the dog park to create a landscaped buffer from Sunrise Valley Drive, resulting in a park that totals 2,130 square feet in size.
“The applicant is simply making the space more usable to address resident and community needs,” the application says.
Image via Google Maps
Gym-goers will soon expect a change of scene at Gold’s Gym in Reston.
The Plaza America location is expected to close sometime this summer and relocate to 11830 Sunrise Valley Drive, according to the company.
While the company’s media department did not return multiple requests for comment, a store employee told FFXnow that an exact date for the closure of the Plaza America location has not yet been determined.
The Sunrise Valley Drive location is expected to open in the summer, according to the company’s website.
(Updated at 10:45 a.m. on 2/23/2023) Fairfax County is seeking federal funds to complete a cycle track on Sunrise Valley Drive.
At a Fairfax County Board of Supervisors meeting yesterday (Tuesday), the board unanimously approved a $13.5 million grant funding request for the project.
The county plans to reconstruct Sunrise Valley Drive to include a one-way separated bicycle lane in each direction from Carta Way to Edmund Halley Drive.
“[The] plan [is] to add raised bike lanes within the existing curb by narrowing the existing travel lanes and medians to improve bike access to Innovation Station Metro, Herndon Metro and [the Reston] Town Center Metro,” Fairfax County Department of Transportation spokesperson Robin Geiger said.
The project is expected to cost around $24 million, including roughly $10 million that has already been secured.
“Sunrise Valley Drive is a challenge for pedestrians and bicyclists due to conditions such as wide intersection and high vehicular volumes,” county staff said in a memo.
With additional traffic expected with the opening of phase two of the Silver Line late last year, the county is eyeing ways to improve safety.
The county is seeking funds through the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) discretionary grant program.
RAISE targets programs that result in major local or regional impacts, particularly passenger transportation, intermodal and road projects.
A vehicle caught fire this morning in a parking garage on Sunrise Valley Drive in Reston, according to the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department.
Crews were able to extinguish the fire before 8:30 a.m. So far, fire officials believe that asphalt work in the area had caught fire in the upper floor of the garage in the 12300 block of Sunrise Valley Drive.
The area is occupied by office buildings and located just south of the Dulles Toll Road.
No other information was immediately available.
Units on scene of a reported vehicle fire on the upper floor of a parking garage in the 12300 block of Sunrise Valley Drive in Reston. Crews arrived to find asphalt work being done that had caught fire. Fire is out. Units are returning to service shortly. #FCFRD pic.twitter.com/CraAxLRsie
— Fairfax County Fire/Rescue (@ffxfirerescue) January 11, 2023
Construction on a new walkway along Sunrise Valley Drive in Reston is set to begin in the winter of 2024.
At a meeting before Reston Association’s Design Review Board on Tuesday (Oct. 18), Fairfax County transportation planners said the project would provide much-needed pedestrian enhancements from Reston Parkway to Soapstone Drive.
The project will also provide a critical connection from the future Reston Town Center Metro station to adjacent neighborhoods, according to Sonia Shahnaj, a project manager for the Fairfax County Department of Transportation.
Construction of a 10-foot-wide walkway is planned, filling in missing segments along the north side of Sunrise Valley Drive.
In response to questions from DRB members on landscaping and tree preservation, Shahnaj noted that the presence of many utilities makes landscaping very challenging. FCDOT plans to remove eight trees throughout the entire project — including one that is nearly dead, she said.
“We are trying to save the existing trees, but there’s not enough buffer,” she said.
The project will add illumination on Sunrise Valley and Colts Neck Road, along with an 8-foot-wide refuge island at Indian Ridge Road, ADA curb ramps and bus stop improvements. A new bus shelter and loading pad are also planned.
Indian Ridge would get a 10-foot-wide asphalt walkway, in addition to the removal of a westbound turn lane to a driveway entrance.
A shoebox-style fixture is planned at Colts Neck Road. Crosswalks are planned at the intersection of Reston Parkway and Colts Neck, at commercial driveway entrances, and at the Sheraton Reston Hotel entrance.
DRB member Brian Cutler encouraged the county to look into installing a flashing light system for pedestrians at Indian Ridge.
“Cars are coming down that hill really fast,” Cutler said, referring to the west side of Sunrise Valley.
Shahnaj said the county explored the possibility of flashing beacon lights, but pedestrian traffic in that area does not warrant the addition, based on state guidelines.
“I’m not sure it’s warranted at this location,” she said, adding that the county is open to examining other pedestrian safety measures in that area.
Design plans will be finalized this November. Initial land acquisition is slated for the winter, with utility relocation and the beginning construction expected to begin the winter of next year.
Construction will likely be finished in the fall of 2025.
The developer of Arrowbrook Centre, a massive mixed-use project in Herndon, has officially dedicated nearly three acres of land to the Fairfax County Park Authority.
The park authority announced on Wednesday (Aug. 3) that Arrowbrook Centre LLC gave it 2.6 acres of land in the northwest quadrant of Centreville Road and Sunrise Valley Drive. Known as Merrybrook, the property was home to Confederate spy Laura Ratcille Hanna.
She lived at the home from 1869 until her death in 1924. More recently, David and Winifred Meiselman owned the property and continued to live on it through a life estate lease agreement with Arrowbrook Centre LLC.
The stakeholders decided to dedicate the property to preserve its local history.
The property’s home is on the state and national register for historic places because of its connection with the Civil War and its architectural development.
“The Park Authority will be considering the best course forward for this property,” David Buchta, a heritage conservation branch manager for FCPA, said. “There are a few options to consider but all of them focus on telling the story of this property and the people who lived there. We are pleased to have this property and thankful that Arrowbrook Centre LLC was willing to provide this generous gift to the community.”
Reston Kabob is getting a chance to uplift its immigrant-owned business through an accelerator program operated by DoorDash.
The Reston-based eatery is part of the first cohort for DoorDash’s Accelerator for Local Goods, an education program designed to support consumer-packed goods that are owned by entrepreneurs who are female, transgender, immigrants or people of color.
Through the program, Reston Kabob will get an extra boost to bottle its sauces, which are made from scratch.
Store manager Masoud Shoja says customers have been requesting the business, which opened in 2003, to bottle its sauces for years. He is an Afghan immigrant who came to the U.S. in the 1980s with his family as a baby. The family fled the Soviet invasion.
After reopening in January 2020, the business explored bottling its sauces, but the pandemic and associated supply chain issues derailed that opportunity.
“Earlier this year, we were finally able to source the bottles, make labels, etc and we started bottling the sauces to sell in store and potentially on 3rd party delivery apps or our website,” Shoja said. “Coincidentally, a week later we received an email to participate in the accelerator program and we saw it as a great fit. The accelerator program highlights packaged goods from local markets.”
Shoja said he opened up to the opportunity to sell beyond Reston Kabob’s platform because of the pandemic.
“The pandemic taught us to be versatile and adapt,” he said. “One way we adapted is to package our sauces where they can be shipped or sold to customers as opposed to customers coming into the physical brick and mortar restaurant location. The accelerator program essentially ‘accelerated’ this opportunity for us.”
The inaugural cohort includes a broad swatch of business owners from Chicago, New York City and the greater D.C. area.
In addition to a six-week education program, Reston Kabob will receive a $5,000 grant to support growth, access to marketing and sales support from DoorDash, and the chance to sell their items via DashMart, a DoorDash-owned and operated grocery and convenience store.
“We hope to gain new customers and grow from there,” Shoja told FFXnow. “If it’s successful, we can launch newer products and flavors and potentially rebrand it to have a more broad appeal as opposed to a localized one.”
