Monday, Nov. 8
Volunteering Group Holds Online Meet and Greet (6-6:45 p.m.) — The Junior League of Northern Virginia, a women’s organization passionate about volunteering, is holding a recruitment event on Zoom and sharing more about the difference it makes in the community.
Tuesday, Nov. 6
End of Year Financial Planning (1:30-3 p.m.) — Campbell Wealth Management discusses financial moves to make before Jan. 1. Free and taking place at Reston Association. Registration required.
Wednesday, Nov. 10
On the Brink of Change: Fairfax County, VA – c. 1960 (7-9 p.m.) — Hear the history of Fairfax County as it transitioned from its agricultural roots, 1960 desegregation between white and Black residents, and Reston founder Robert Simon’s vision for what the area has become today.
Thursday, Nov. 11
Smylin’ Jack at Jimmy’s Old Tavern (8 p.m.) — A group covering bands from AC/DC to Radiohead returns to Herndon.
Friday, Nov. 12
“Fully Committed” (8 p.m.) — A comedic play follows the struggles of an out-of-work actress. It’s the first performance of the NextStop Theatre Co. show’s run, which continues through Nov. 21. Cost is $25.
Saturday, Nov. 13
Meet the Artist Reception (10 a.m. to 5 p.m.) — Marthe McGrath meets with visitors at the Reston Art Gallery & Studios to share her acrylic and mixed media for her new show called “Kinetic Energy.”
Sunday. Nov. 14
“Judas and the Black Messiah” (3 p.m.) — The CenterStage presents the 2021 movie about the police killing of Black Panther Party leader Fred Hampton. Registration required. Free.
Frying Pan Farm Park once again has a U.S. flag in the skies, thanks to a new flagpole installed after years of work.
Fairfax County Park Authority officials placed it there this summer after Jack Pitzer, the president of the Friends of Frying Pan Farm Park, led efforts to get one there.
Flags were previously flown at the park next to an entrance by a barn as well as a four-room schoolhouse. But staff decided to place it by Middleton Barn and remarked on its special location.
“It looks like the landscape bed was made for a flagpole,” maintenance coordinator Eric Malmgren, who picked the spot, said for a park authority article on the history of flags at the park.
Pitzer made a donation to the Fairfax County Park Foundation for the flagpole and led a ceremony with his wife to raise the flag.
The project came with overcoming several obstacles, such as the need for a cement mixer, but renting one was cost prohibitive, but the county Park Operations Division intervened with a small cement mixer to get the one cubic yard of concrete needed, the Park Authority noted.
“It would have been a ton of work to mix it by hand,” former Frying Pan Farm Park Manager Yvonne Johnson told the Park Authority. She worked on the project and had the flag purchase finalized before her retirement.
The $2,000 project comes as future holidays, such as Veterans Day this Thursday, continue to provide points of reflection.
Prices are rising across several new developments along the Dulles Toll Road corridor.
It’s happening as the seasons change this year, affecting locations near existing and yet-to-open Metrorail stations.
At Wiehle Avenue for The Townhomes at Reston Station, which features four-story homes with a garage, prices have increased from $786,500 to $807,500 for its lowest model over the course of this year.
Bethesda-based homebuilder EYA didn’t respond to messages seeking comment.
The three- or four-bedroom townhomes have approximately 1,690 square feet of space with luxury amenities.
The base price of another model there, townhomes with elevators, also has increased from the upper $900,000s to $1.02 million and now to $1.075 million, based on figures presented on its website.
Floorplans for different units show two-car garages, a study, three bedrooms, a loft and a rooftop terrace. But designs can vary and include four bedrooms. A base model starts at 2,420 square feet.
The townhome prices come amid a flurry of competition as apartments, affordable housing developments like one near Dulles airport and other homes spring up throughout Fairfax County.
Factors contributing to price changes
Eric Maribojoc, the executive director of the Center for Real Estate Entrepreneurship at George Mason University, noted how low-interest mortgage rates have helped buyers’ high demand for housing.
Along with easier to access to money for buyers, new home development continues, too, reshaping existing areas.
“Developers remain bullish on residential projects near the Silver Line and other metro stations,” Maribojoc said in an email. “They will continue to deliver high-rise condominium projects adjacent to stations and lower-rise townhome projects a little further away. Redevelopment of obsolete office buildings, hotels, and retail centers, particularly those impacted by pandemic-related tenant issues, to new residential units may also expand.”
But he said townhome prices are likely to moderate over the next year, noting the mortgage rates are poised to increase in 2022 due to Federal Reserve policy.
Despite the competition, not every company is responding in the same way with pricing. At least one development is even decreasing prices: At Tall Oaks Flats, located farther north on Wiehle Avenue, Stanley Martin Homes has decreased its one-floor condominium price from the mid-$500,000s down to the upper $400,000s.
Meanwhile, near the Innovation Center Station, a new development also by Stanley Martin Homes has had prices in the $500,000s for condos and $700,000s for townhomes. Construction crews have been erecting wooden frameworks for the project and setting up other construction for the company’s Liberty Park neighborhood. The homes offer two to four bedrooms and up to 2,700 square feet.
Older areas see boom
In Tysons, one project, Union Park at McLean – The Lofts, is about half a mile away from the McLean Station and has 21 homes left along with two model units. So far, 73 have been sold, according to its website.
Its lowest base price is for a two-story, three-bedroom model with a garage. That low point has risen from just under $750,000 in April to just under $770,000. Units start at 1,587 square feet.
“Commercial development has been very active adjacent to Silver Line  stations with major mixed-use developments such as The Boro, Reston Station and the Capital One campus,” Maribojoc wrote. “These provide amenities such as grocery stores, retail shops and entertainment in high-density and walkable neighborhoods.”
Residents fall for the urban-like environment in a suburban setting — especially homebuyers relocating from the District, he says.
Town leaders want more input from residents about whether it should ease restrictions for secondary living quarters that can be part of or detached from homes.
Current rules — in place since 1983 — have limited accessory dwelling units (ADUs) for those who are older than 62 or who have a disability. But following changes in other states and by other area governments, including Fairfax County, Herndon is looking to drop those requirements and make other adjustments.
“This is relaxing the current requirements, but it’s not making it easy,” zoning administrator David Stromberg said during an Oct. 26 meeting prior to a public hearing. “There still are … a lot of standards that have to be met.”
Town council delayed a decision until its Nov. 16 meeting.
In the works since April, the review of ADU rules came after some residents expressed frustrations about the process.
Proposed changes have also called for allowing up to three people live in an ADU (raising the current restriction from two people), reducing a detached ADU maximum space from 1,200 square feet to 900 square feet, and more.
The changes would also allow many kinds of construction to happen without a special approval process, but it would also ensure building inspectors and others go through properties to make sure they’re safe.
One resident commented during the Oct. 26 public hearing. Arthur Nachman, of Vine Street, said he was against the changes because it would allow non-family members to be in detached buildings, which he said shouldn’t happen in a residential neighborhood.
While some councilmembers shared concerns and wanted more time for residents to provide feedback, Councilmember Jasbinder Singh spent the most time expressing his doubts, saying he thought it would change the town’s character.
Based on the number of ADUs occurring in Arlington County from 2017 to 2021, Stromberg estimates that the rate in Herndon will be two or three per year if they’re “by right.” Singh said he disagreed and suggested more could happen.
The delayed vote will allow the town to get more input, though technically the public hearing has closed. People can still share their opinions during a regular public comment portion of the meeting.
“It will give us time to think more about all the issues and really what motion should be made if at all,” Singh said.
Neighboring governments have already loosened restrictions. Fairfax County revised its rules for accessory units, which it calls accessory living units, as part of a larger zoning overhaul this summer, dropping its requirement that the units be restricted to older adults and people with disabilities.
During the pandemic, a food vendor told fellow merchant Pedro Banegas, 59, who uses an electric wheelchair, that he had a surprise for him.
Later, the good Samaritan drove to his house and handed him the keys to a 2007 van, which Banegas has been using for nearly a year, the merchant says. He’s currently been selling snacks and drinks to construction workers on job sites near McNair along Sunrise Valley Drive.
He’s not the only one doing so out of a van, and food trucks also make stops to catch workers’ breaks. They have plenty of customers. A Donohoe Construction Co. spokesperson said they average 160 to 190 workers on the site each day near the Innovation Center Station.
Banegas regularly parks his maroon-colored vehicle on the curb at multiple job sites after making the commute from the Falls Church area where he lives. He doesn’t always like sharing about his personal life, but his children are in their 30s. He wakes up at 4 a.m. and takes the weekends off, going to church on Sundays.
He buys snack pack boxes to get a variety of chips like Doritos and Cheetos, and customers make their own coffee with a mix he provides along with an orange and white beverage dispenser filled with hot water.
Two of his merchant stops include building sites where tower cranes have been: one for a 274-unit affordable housing development called Ovation at Arrowbrook by Centreville Road and another for the Brightview Senior Living facility that Donohoe is building.
A third site he visits includes the 155 townhomes and condominiums that Stanley Martin is building by office buildings. He sticks to those sites, but other nearby construction includes a six-story multifamily development, Passport NoVA, as well as retail and luxury residence along Dulles Station Boulevard for a development called Makers Rise.
Banegas says he operated heavy equipment before he lost his right leg. Now, selling chips and coffee helps him get by. Other food vendors give him food for his own meals, too, as they work by construction sites.
Whether it’s a familiar or unfamiliar face, he greets people with a smile and chatter, both in English and Spanish, which translates well with numerous construction workers doing the same.
Aging courts in need of repairs, which have also been eyed for shared pickleball space and new lighting, will have to wait at Barton Hil Recreation Area.
The Reston Association Board of Directors voted 4-2 on Thursday (Oct. 28) to defer the matter to the 2023 budget. Directors Jennifer Jushchuk, John Mooney, Bob Petrine and Sarah Selvaraj voted in favor and directors Caren Anton and Tim Dowling were opposed.
“The response from the community is … overwhelmingly in favor of doing the … pickleball conversion and the lights,” Anton, the board’s chair, said before the vote. “It’s like 75 or 85% in favor.”
Jushchuk said she’s not getting that response from her members in the South Lakes District where the courts are. She said she tends to support more community outreach and wanted staff to have time in 2022 to have a plan to implement in 2023.
“I’m not saying that we should not do this,” Jushchuk said, adding, “We need some time to figure out” what RA is going to do, what it’s going to cost and looking at community buy-in.
Petrine said that there have been emails both for and against the project and he would want a more thorough review of the project before the association spends over $870,000 for the project.
The Barton Hill Recreation Area along Sunrise Valley Drive has no stoplight at an intersection with Barton Hill Road. At an Oct. 13 public hearing on the budget, one father noted safety concerns with a crosswalk and visibility for traffic there, recommending that issue be considered with upgrades.
The courts were built in 1985 and the association has discussed the possibility of adding roofing to the outdoor courts, but acting CEO Larry Butler said last month during a public hearing that’s no longer being considered.
When asked how quickly the courts would need to be replaced, Chris Schumaker, RA’s director of capital projects, said they wouldn’t necessarily need to shut the courts down, but he wondered how playable they would be given surface cracking that’s already there.
He said they’d likely have a lot more come spring given a freeze-thaw period.
The decision comes as the board is moving toward approving a 2022-2023 biennial budget. A second public hearing is scheduled for 7 p.m. Nov. 10. A copy of the second draft of the budget is available online.
Mike Leone, a spokesperson for the association, said in an email that the fiscal committee will likely continue their budget discussions in November and the board will likely approve the final budget and the 2022 assessment rate at their Nov. 18 regular meeting.
Two office buildings are listed for sale, following an eight-figure transaction in 2016.
At the time, prior owner Brandywine Realty Trust, now headquartered in Philly, sold Herndon Metro Plaza I and II at 196 and 198 Van Buren St. for $44.5 million.
The owner is listed as ERGS HMP, LLC, which has an address in a Virginia business registration database that’s the same as investment firm Goldman Sachs’ global headquarters in New York.
The buildings currently have seven tenants, making the properties 53% leased and “offering investors a true value-add, transit-oriented office investment opportunity in a rapidly transforming, high-growth Northern Virginia submarket,” commercial real estate giant JLL says on its listing.
JLL, which didn’t immediately return messages seeking comment, touts the benefits of the property as ranging from prominent Dulles Toll Road signage opportunities to below-grade parking and being next to the Herndon Metro station, which the company says is slated for access in early 2022 (despite how numerous delays in completing it have already occurred).
The 6.5-acre site features a net building area of over 204,000 square feet, nearly four times the square footage of the White House.
The listing also notes the site is at the “intersection of federal spending” and Big Tech, with Amazon, Microsoft and Google continuing to expand along the Dulles Toll Road corridor.
A new day care is preparing to open in Reston.
A franchise for Celebree School, which features digital reports for each child daily and helps prepare kids for kindergarten, is slated to open at a low-rise office building at 11109 Sunset Hills Road, Unit 150 near Wiehle Avenue.
“We researched different schools and it was a no-brainer that Celebree was the right choice for us,” franchisee Josephine Kibe-Johnson said in an email.
The schools’ curriculum strives to incorporate not just academic needs but emotional, physical and social factors, too. It’ll serve infants, toddlers, preschoolers and school-age children.
“We were amazed with the creative curriculum that is followed at Celebree that offers tailored lessons to meet the unique needs of children; curriculum that is comprehensive, based on research and [provides] developmentally appropriate content for children with different skills and [backgrounds],” Kibe-Johnson also wrote.
The business is currently looking to hire a director and an assistant director and teachers for the school’s different age groups.
It comes as childcare challenges during the pandemic caused centers to close and left many looking to fill positions and retain workers.
According to a survey by the National Association for the Education of Young Children, which surveyed providers in the industry in part of June and July, more than one in every three respondents said they were considering “leaving or shutting down their child care programs this year, and over half of minority-owned programs are reckoning with the possibility of permanent closure.”
In Virginia, many day cares reported having staffing shortages, serving fewer children, having a longer waitlist than usual and having reduced their operating hours, the association’s survey found.
Federal COVID-19 relief money has gone to governments, parents and child care centers, and Fairfax County aid has sought to use its portion of that money to keep day cares open. County staff noted in July that child care programs could close at a time when more parents are returning to work.
For Kibe-Johnson, she said her business could be part of helping address a shortage in childcare services.
“We believe that we are part of the solution of helping parents, especially women, go back to work, by providing quality childcare services for their children,” she wrote.
A groundbreaking event at the proposed location is slated for 11 a.m. this Tuesday (Nov. 9), where community members are able to attend for refreshments, activities and more.
The day care is projected to open in the first quarter of 2022.
Photo via Google Maps
Construction crews have turned a wooded area into a building site for a new 6,525-square-foot chain restaurant.
The Outback Steakhouse at 365 Elden St. will be less than half a mile from another restaurant with the chain that’s already in Herndon (150 Elden St. #100).
A project manager with Belisle Construction said it’s slated to be done and open around February.
Officials with the parent company, Bloomin’ Brands, refused to answer questions, such as its plans for relocating staff with the opening of the new restaurant.
Since early September, the company has posted 11 part-time positions for the existing restaurant, ranging from line cooks to servers, as well as a full-time manager.
It previously had a listing for a bartender on May 10, 2020, which is still on its jobs website.
The new location takes over a 1.46-acre site, having businesses on both sides of it: a Residence Inn by Marriott and a four-story office building at 381 Elden St.
The new restaurant is slated to have an 82-space parking lot, an outdoor seating patio and signage noting its takeout service that the town’s Architectural Review Board approved in August.
It’s still working its way through permitting and received a permit with the county for an underground fire service line on Oct. 1.
Monday, Nov. 1
- RCC Thanksgiving Food Drive (through Nov. 22) — Patrons, businesses and organizations can drop off non-perishable food and other items at various drop-off points throughout the community to benefit the social services nonprofit Cornerstones.
Tuesday, Nov. 2
- Grades K-2 Makerclass (4:30-6 p.m., runs weekly through Dec. 14) — Kids will work on creative projects that make use of skills ranging from art to engineering and technology. There’s no class on Thanksgiving week. Presented by Nova Labs. Cost is $100.
Wednesday, Nov. 3
- Reston Farmers Market (3-7 p.m.) — Stop by for some fresh produce at the parking lot of St. John Neumann Catholic Church.
Thursday, Nov. 4
- Anna Balakerskaia (2:15-3:30 p.m.) — “Dr. Anna” will perform with her George Mason University students as well as Levine Music pianist Dasha Gabay. Free, but registration is required.
Friday, Nov. 5
- “The Musical of Musicals (The Musical!)” (8 p.m.) — A satirical performance reminiscent of musical theater greats ranging from Andrew Lloyd Webber to Rodgers and Hammerstein kicks off at Reston Community Center’s CenterStage. Finale is 8 p.m. Saturday. Tickets cost $20 for adults, but discounts are available.
Saturday, Nov. 6
- Appraisal Roadshow (11 a.m. to noon) — Have an expert appraise one of your personal items, from jewelry to coins and more, at the Reston Association headquarters. Private appointments with appraisers may be scheduled after the show, too. Cost starts at $15.
Sunday, Nov. 7
- “The Turn of the Screw” (2 p.m.) — A finale gives audiences one last chance to attend, following performances on Friday and Saturday. Adapted from the classic Henry James horror story, this play follows the journey of a governess caring for two kids when she begins to wonder if the home is haunted. Tickets are $25.
Be prepared: A science-related night under the star is getting ready for liftoff.
The educational event at 7 p.m. Saturday will bring hands-on activities to Turner Farm to help commemorate the Dec. 18 launch of the James Webb Space Telescope.
The hourlong event invites Girl Scouts to learn about telescopes, particularly the new Webb telescope. NASA notes that the telescope will view the universe at infrared wavelengths, helping show things never seen by any other telescope, to help study galaxy, star and planet formation.
“We are thrilled that the Park Authority is an official host site for NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope launch community events,” Tammy Schwab, manager of Fairfax County’s Education and Outreach for Resource Parks, said in a news release. “People of all ages and backgrounds will find inspiration in the Webb mission, which will fundamentally change our understanding of the universe for this generation and many to come.”
Hundreds of events across the country are recognizing the upcoming launch of the telescope, which is roughly the mass of a school bus. At the Great Falls event, participants can earn Space Science badges.
The county is partnering with an educational astronomy group, the Analemma Society, to help with providing telescopes for the event. Cost is $8 per participant, and chaperones (who pay no attendance fees) are required. Register online.
Schwab said a virtual event on Nov. 20 will feature a NASA scientist.
The Reston Association has adopted standards for what electric vehicle charging stations must look like when new ones are built outside residences and businesses.
The RA’s board of directors approved a document that creates restrictions and guidance for when the devices are installed.
The association already required property owners to have plans reviewed and approved by its Design Review Board. But the new standards create formal criteria.
“We are finally bringing this before the board,” said Cam Adams, the association’s director of covenants administration, before the unanimous vote yesterday in favor of the measure. The approval marks a 10-month process that began in January.
RA referred to the new standards as a guideline, but the approved document notes several restrictions in addition to preferences. According to the association, the document is acting as a blueprint for RA’s review of projects.
The measure restricts the use of bollards, stating no more than two can be used in front of a station, and says wheel stops are encouraged over bollards. It also adds that the use of the bollard at a station will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
It also restricts the use of wooden pedestals and limits the height of stations to 6.5 feet.
Among the guidelines, the document recommends that clusters, condos and apartments installing one in a common area have a parking plan to help “prevent sporadic installations on the common area.”
The standards also state that wall-mounted units will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
Interior charging stations, such as those in garages, are unaffected by the existing and new rules. And existing stations are grandfathered in, the association said previously.
A Brookfield Properties executive has detailed the company’s plans to advance a state-of-the-art office building in Reston for the Halley Rise development.
The company says it is using distinguished architectural firms for each building block as part of the retail-residential-office complex.
A 115,000-square-foot timber office building is slated to move forward at the start of next year, Brookfield senior vice president of development Rich Fernicola said Monday.
Halley Rise, part of which has been under construction, is located along Sunrise Valley Drive and the Reston Parkway by the forthcoming Reston Town Center Metro station.
Once completed, it’s slated to have 1.9 million square feet of office space (about five and a half times the size of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool), 240,000 square feet of retail (just over four football fields), over five acres of public open space, new public streets and more.
The complex also features a seven-story luxury apartment building called The Edmund (2025 Fulton Ave.), which has units available for move-in on Nov. 6. Sixty-three units have already been taken out of the 353 available, according to figures provided by the apartment’s website.
Reston Association could rename a field to honor a grounds maintenance supervisor, Richie Zeisler, who worked for the organization for over 45 years.
“Among all his duties, building, maintaining, and preparing the RA baseball fields for each season was his passion,” Michael McNamara, director of maintenance and environmental resources for RA, said in a memo signed by workers.
The board of directors is slated to approve the renaming at its Thursday meeting as part of its consent calendar, where items are rolled into a group for expected approval.
Zeisler died in July and spent decades in his final role with the association. He was a “lifelong NY Yankee fan and a true follower of the game,” known for wearing the team’s hat and keeping copies of every single Yankee game box score when he wasn’t scoring the game himself, the memo noted.
“With a rake in his hand and a determination to make each field look like Yankee stadium, Richie would make sure each RA baseball field was in peak condition when the season started,” association staff wrote.
Brown’s Chapel field #1 would be renamed as Richie Zeisler Field.
Photo via Google Maps
Crews are building a luxury residential project with ground-floor commercial space along Dulles Station Boulevard near the Innovation Center Metro station.
The Makers Rise project (2311 Dulles Station Boulevard) under construction is on the east side of the street, one of two such buildings envisioned there. The current project calls for 356 units — ranging from studios to two-bedrooms plus dens — with coworking spaces and amenities such as courtyards as well as a swimming pool with a terrace, fitness center, club room and pet spa, according to Arlington-based CBG Building Co.
“It’s going to be a beautiful building, and we really look forward to delivering it and being a significant new place of the Dulles Station community and the Innovation Center Metro at large,” said Ryan Whittier, of real estate company Crimson Partners.
Crimson Partners says on its website that the project’s 393,000-plus-square-feet will include 5,600 square feet of restaurant and retail. The commercial footage translates to the size of just over two tennis courts. Whittier said nothing has been inked yet but they’ve been in exciting talks with a coffee shop operator that they hope to bring there.
Construction began in April, and crews could deliver the project in August 2023, according to Whittier.
Developers received county approval in 2018 to switch a project from office buildings to residential buildings in a plan to also develop the west side of the street, but construction equipment has been parked there on the east side. Whittier said a final development plan and permits for the west side of the project, another mixed-use building, will go before the county for approval.
The project is one of several going up near the yet-to-open Innovation Center Metro station.
Woodfield Development is also having residential buildings built in its nearby Liberty Park neighborhood, which includes the Passport apartment project as well as townhomes and condominiums.
CBG didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment yesterday.
The Makers Rise project is slated for completion in July 2023.
