Lake Anne Revitalization May Finally Get Go-Ahead

After years of community discussion, a few months of tweaks to the plan and a snow delay, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors is finally set to approve Lake Anne Development Partners’ vision for Crescent Apartments and the Lake Anne Plaza area.

The Board of Supervisors will vote on several LADP-related items at its meeting on Tuesday. Approval will mean the massive overhaul — which is slated to add more than 1,000 residences to where the 181-unit, county owned Crescent Apartments stands today. The votes were deferred from the supervisors’ Feb. 17 meeting due to a snowstorm that day that may have prevented people from attending the public hearing.

LADP’s plan also calls for 78,000 square feet of office space and 58,000 square feet of retail space, a modest-sized grocery store and realignment of Village Road. The project will also have a 1.1-acre central park, an outdoor amphitheater, a bike share station and 12 public art works, according to the project’s county staff report.

The interior section of Lake Anne Plaza, Reston’s original village center, has historic designation and will not be altered. However, developers hope the increased density and revitalization of the surrounding area will draw retailers and people to the plaza.

The project was recommended for approval earlier this year by the Fairfax County Planning Commission. The Board of Supervisors held public hearings on the project last month, where they were reminded to remember the residents of Crescent who count on affordable housing.

As part of its agreement with the county, Lake Anne Development Partners must provide 185 replacement affordable apartments and designate 20 percent of the other units as affordable and workforce housing.

LADP was chosen by the county in 2013 to redevelop the aging Crescent Apartments, which was purchased by the county for $49.5 million in 2006 for use as affordable housing.

Among the specifics the supervisors will be voting on at Tuesday’s meeting:

A reduction in parking. LADP requested to reduce by nearly 500 (18 percent) the number of parking spots in the Crescent area.

LADP says Crescent redevelopment is being planned in a more urban style, so it should not have to meet suburban standards and that the project has proffered a comprehensive transportation plan with specific goals and strategies targeted to reduce auto ownership among future residents as well as reducing parking supply. The project has proffered an overall 25-percent trip reduction goal for the resident and office users, which corresponds to a strategy that reduces the parking supply, acccording to county documents.

There will still be 2,167 total spaces when the project is fully developed, says LADP. That includes hundreds of garage spaces for Crescent residents and a 120-space parking garage to be built on a parcel of land adjacent to the current Lake Anne Plaza. That land, formerly owned by Reston Association, was the subject of a controversial land swap in late 2o13.

Land issues. The Supervisors will vote on the agreement for the 99-year ground lease by the county of the site for the replacement affordable units; the conveyance of the remaining approximately 1.2 acre portion of County owned land to Reston Association, who will in turn convey approximately 1.04 acres of adjacent land to LADP to facilitate the project (this is the final ruling on the 2013 land swap). Read more specifics in the Supervisors Agenda Package.

Earlier this year, LADP met county development conditions by agreeing to increase its contribution to the Fairfax County Park Authority from $100,000 to $500,000.

Renderings courtesy of LADP