Reston Town Center’s Surface Parking Lot Closes Next Week

Preliminary construction is set to begin on Boston Properties’ “Signature Site,” the last undeveloped parcel of land at Reston Town Center.

That means the 251-space surface parking lot at Fountain Drive and New Dominion Parkway will close on Monday, Nov. 16. Plenty of parking is available in RTC’s parking garages, town center officials point out.

The Signature Site, formerly called Block 4, is Boston Properties’ project that will turn the parking lot — also formerly home to rides at Taste of Reston and the Athletes’ Village at last summer’s World Police and Fire Games — into two high-rise residential buildings with up to 549 units and nine levels of underground parking.

The plans also call for a park with a yoga area, public art and picnic areas.

The project will have about 1.85 acres (40 percent) of open space.  There will also be an additional vegetated roof.

Boston Properties purchased the space in 2013 for a reported $27 million. At that time, the lot was zoned for offices. Boston Properties got a zoning change for residential development, though, and will move the office zoning to Block 5, where the current FedEx/Kinkos and Ann Taylor are now located.

Plans call for turning that three-story retail/office building into a 17-story building with 276,788 square feet of office space and 7,800 square feet of ground-floor retail. The building would also have four levels of underground parking.