Comstock, which announced on Thursday that Founding Farmers will open at Reston Station in 2016, is also planning a pop-up retail project called Urban Pop on the Reston Station Plaza.

Urban Pop will host retail and food vendors in some of the areas of the plaza that are currently fenced off, said Comstock spokeswoman Maggie Parker. The construction fencing will come down to expand the plaza enough for outdoor retail space.

The market concept is similar, but smaller in scale, to The Stock Market @ Reston Station that Comstock discussed last year, said Parker. That plan was shelved a few months ago.

Parker said Urban Pop will bring a curated mix of shops and artisans to “that would be of benefit to commuters,” said Parker.

No vendors have been signed yet, but Comstock plans to have the project open in Spring 2016. Founding Farmers will likely open in late 2016, Farmers Restaurant Group said Thursday.

Meanwhile, look for Smartmarkets, which operates the Wednesday farmers market on the plaza, to return in 2016. The market, which had space at two locations off Sunrise Valley at Reston Parkway the last five years, moved to Reston Station last spring. Parker said Comstock and the farmers were both pleased with the plaza location in 2015.

The vendors will be on the plaza Wednesdays from 3 to 6 p.m. through November, said Parker.

Reston will be getting a local outpost of Founding Farmers, the local chainlet of farm-to-table restaurants.

Comstock Partners confirms that the Farmers Restaurant Group has signed a lease to take over almost all of the current retail space at Reston Station.

The 10,000-square-foot restaurant is in the design stage, says Comstock spokeswoman Maggie Parker.

“We are delighted to have them out here,” said Parker. “Founding Farmers is a terrific, successful restaurant. It’s a great fit for Reston. “

The retail space was completed prior to the opening of Silver Line in summer 2014. It has not had a permanent tenant, but has been used for special events in the months since. Comstock late last year announced a new concept — The Stock Market @ Reston Station — that would bring retail and food booths to the space. The deal fell apart in July, however.

The restaurant space will eventually be the first level of a future hotel at Reston Station. Reston Station is Comstock’s mixed-use project that sits atop the 3,300-space underground parking garage adjacent to the Wiehle-Reston East Silver Line Metro station.

Founding Farmers, which has locations in the District, Rockville and Tysons Corner, said to expect “something different in Reston, including a rooftop dining scene.”

“Reston is a wonderful, growing community and we’re excited to be joining the neighborhood, ” Dan Simons of Farmers Restaurant Group said in a statement. “As we expand, we’re passionately committed to evolving with each new location. Between the location of Reston Station and the chance to work with Comstock, this was an opportunity that we couldn’t pass up.”

Founding Farmers is expected to open in Reston in late 2016, after the company opens Farmers & Distillers, a 12,000-square-foot restaurant with in-house distillery , planned for 600 Massachusetts Ave. NW in the District, Parker said.

Founding Farmers other locations include breakfast, lunch and dinner service; meats from an in-house butchery; local craft beers; Virginia oysters; and a selection of locally distilled liquors.

Comstock is also slated to start work on Reston Station’s first office building soon, said Parker. The 16-story, 365,000-square-foot building, designed by architect Helmut Jahn, will have, among other amenities, a rooftop helipad, and plaza-level retail.

The BLVD at Reston Station, the 528-unit luxury residential building by Comstock, will open a pre-leasing center soon in a small portion of the retail space on the plaza, said Parker. The building expects to have its first residents early in 2016.

Photo: Founding Farmers Rockville location/Credit: Greg Powers for Founding Farmers

More than 150 black-and-white photos of Reston residents will be exhibited around the area as part of a larger discussion about diversity.

The photos are part of “We Make Reston,” an INSIDE OUT project, brought to Reston by the Initiative for Public Art Reston (IPAR) and Reston Community Center. The photos will be officially unveiled during the Reston Multicultural Festival, with an accompanying discussion about diversity on Sunday.

Photos are exhibited around Reston at the Lake Anne sea wall, Comstock Partners’ fencing wall at the Wiehle-Reston Metro Station and South Lakes High School. There is also an exhibit inside the Jo Anne Rose Gallery.

“It [“We Make Reston” wall] is diverse, playful, and exudes adventure and love – all crucial parts of the essence of Reston,” said Leila Gordon, the executive director of the Reston Community Center.

The Initiative for Public Art Reston and the Reston Community Center received more than 300 photos of Reston residents. Of the 300, 169 were selected to be displayed on the three walls.

“A book of all the submissions that met criteria will be made available to the public at the festival and online,” Gordon said.

To be considered, all photos had to be a black and white, vertical portrait. Comstock Partners, who joined in with IPAR and RCC to provide the Metro station and banner locations, also had a team of photographers take portrait shots of Reston residents.

“People should be intrigued and delighted [about the wall],” Gordon said. “And yes, I am sure there will be some surprises.”

Photo courtesy of RCC

Comstock Partners has formed a new partnership with Tokyo-based Daito Trust Construction Co., Ltd., which has purchased an equity interest in Comstock’s BLVD luxury apartment tower.

BLVD is the first of of eight buildings planned by Comstock at Reston Station, adjacent to the Wiehle-Reston East Metro station. BLVD is scheduled to begin leasing later this month and will have its first occupants in early 2016, said Comstock spokeswoman Maggie Parker.

Daito is says the $35.5 million investment in BLVD builds on its success in the multi-family rental market in Japan and the partnership with Comstock continues the Japanese company’s overseas strategy of strategic investments in strong markets with accomplished U.S. based firms.

Said Comstock’s Managing Director, Christopher Clemente: “We are proud of our association with a firm of Daito’s stature and we are excited about the potential of our partnership with Daito. As one of Japan’s most accomplished multi-family rental housing operators, Daito’s significant sector knowledge and financial strength compliments Comstock’s operational skills and financial capabilities.”

BLVD will have 448 residential units, including 88 workforce housing units, and an eventual 8,500 square feet of ground floor retail. Amenities include a roof top pool and terrace, a fully equipped fitness center, yoga room, business center, secure garage parking, and numerous outdoor amenities including cooking stations and a movie screening area.

The apartments will be part of Reston Association as part of a new fee structure for properties in Reston’s former industrial zone.

Comstock Partners has teamed with the Initiative for Public Art Reston (IPAR) and Reston Community Center for the upcoming We Make Reston public art project.

The project will feature portraits of Restonians in order to reflect Reston’s diversity. Originally slated for display at Lake Anne Plaza in September, Comstock will also participate by providing a second location for the exhibit.

We Make Reston will now also be featured on Comstock’s 140-foot fencing wall at the Wiehle-Reston Metro Station and on a seven-story banner visible from the Dulles Toll Road, Comstock says.

All displays will open Sept. 26, in conjunction with the Reston Multicultural Festival.

Comstock will have a “street team” of photographers on the Reston Station plaza near the north entrance to the Wiehle-Reston East Metro station Tuesday from 4 to 7 p.m. and Wednesday from noon to 7 p.m.

On Tuesday, photographers will provide more info to Reston commuters and residents and invite them to add the photos to the project, says Comstock spokeswoman Maggie Parker.

On Wednesday, interested participants can return with their signed release and be photographed, said Parker.

We Make Reston is part of the INSIDE OUT project – a global initiative with 200,000 participants from more than 112 countries.

Residents are still encouraged to submit their own portraits for the project. The deadline for submission in Aug. 9. Photos must be black and white and vertical in orientation. For more submission details visit RCC’s website.

The former American Press Institute headquarters may be a future housing development.

Vienna-based Sekas Homes has submitted a Fairfax County rezoning application for the property located at 11690 Sunrise Valley Drive. The company seeks to change the parcel from industrial to Planned Residential  to construct 37 urban-style single family attached dwelling units, as well as parking and recreational amenities, the application says.

The existing office building and surface parking will be removed, the application said.

Access will be provided via a single full movement access point off of Roland Clarke Place and the development will be served by private streets and alleyways, the applications said.

The building was occupied by API from 1972 until 2012, when the organization merged with the Newspaper Association of America. The modernist building designed by architect Marcel Breuer was sold for $5 million in 2013.

The building site is adjacent to JBG’s Reston Heights, which contains two hotels, the Mercer Condos and offices. Further expansion of Reston Heights is set to begin soon for the parcel that formerly contained Chili’s Bar & Grill.

The expansion, approved by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors in 2013, will have a six-story residential building, a 15-story residential building, a five-story building that incorporates a parking garage with residences and retail space; and a 10-story building that mixes office space, parking and retail space.

JBG recently announced that 24-Hour Fitness will be an anchor tenant.

Meanwhile, there also may a big new development in the works for the south access point of the Wiehle-Reston East Metro station.

CESC Commerce Executive Park, L.L.C. has filed a rezoning application for 1850 Centennial Park Drive, 11400 Commerce Park Drive and 11440 Commerce Park Drive  to rezone from Industrial District to Planned Development Commercial (PDC).

Those office buildings are located on the south side of the Dulles Toll Road from the metro station. There is direct access from a stairway between the office buildings and the toll road.

The applications calls for approximately 500 new dwelling units, a hotel with approximately 175 rooms, a new office building of approximately 400,000 square feet, and “complementary retail/active uses integrated into the ground floor to enrich the pedestrian experience.”

The property owners say two existing office buildings will be retained (totaling 356,496 square feet of office space). The application also includes an option to convert the proposed hotel to multifamily residential, and the proposed new office building to multifamily residential and/or hotel.

That development would be one of several in the immediate vicinity of the Metro station. Comstock’s 528-unit BLVD apartments at Reston Station will begin leasing later this year. Construction has recently begun on a project by The Bozzuto Group and Chuck Veatch at Sunset Hills Road and Reston Station Boulevard that will bring 421 units. Developer JBG has also filed a rezoning application to turn an office building at 1831 Wiehle Av. (Sunset Hills and Wiehle Avenue) into 504 residential units.

API building/Credit: Showcase.com

The Reston Association Board of Directors voted unanimously on Thursday to add Comstock’s BLVD residences to the association, potentially paving the way for other new buildings to become RA properties but at a different assessment structure.

Under the new model, the association will receive an initiation fee and/or proffers from developers.

Residents will not initially have to pay RA assessments. BLVD, which will begin leasing 540 units at Reston Station this fall, is built in Reston’s former industrial corridor and is not required to join RA. Also, it will have extensive on-site amenities, so residents should not require all of RA’s membership benefits.

Comstock has agreed to pay $300,000 of an expected $650,000 in proffers to RA as an association initiation fee. Comstock’s payment will go towards the refurbishment of the Tetra Building, which RA is in the process of purchasing for community space. Comstock will get naming rights to the building for 10 years.

BLVD will offer to residents optional RA recreational packages, which will give residents access to RA pools, tennis courts and camp priority, for $350 annually.

When and if the building goes condo, residents will pay 50 percent of the RA full-member assessment (currently $642 annually), according to RA and Comstock’s Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). Those members will still have to pay an additional fee for RA recreation access, RA CEO Cate Fulkerson said.

BLVD will not be under the guidelines of the RA Design Review Board. Its design guidelines were already approved by the county as part of the initial plans in 2010.

The upcoming Bozzuto residential building, which will have 421 units across Reston Station Boulevard from BLVD, will also likely be added to the association in the same manner, Fulkerson said.

Along with bringing new revenue into the association, adding former industrial corridor properties to RA will help create a more unified Reston, she added.

“With the Silver Line spurring new mixed use development in those areas, we believe it is important to bring the corridor properties into our organization to make one Reston,” said Reston Association CEO Cate Fulkerson. “More than anything, so that the people who are coming into our community have a sense of place, that they belong to all of Reston and are not separated or treated differently.”

The board also passed a motion to begin adding future corridor properties using a list of eight options recently adopted by RA.

Are you ready to attend a party at the Comstock Center on the banks of Lake Newport?

That could be the name of the former Reston Visitors Center, commonly referred to as the Tetra building, according to terms of the deal to add BLVD Apartments to RA.

Reston Association members recently approved by referendum the purchase of the Lake Newport-area building from Tetra Partners commercial real estate for $2.65 million.

RA announced earlier that it would be getting a $650,000 contribution from Comstock Partners as part of the deal to add the 540-unit BLVD Apartments to the association.

As part of the terms of that deal, Comstock will have naming rights to the Tetra building for 10 years, RA says.

Some of the terms of the deal, which are open for a discussion at the first of two public hearings on May 28 at 6 p.m. at RA headquarters, 12001 Sunrise Valley Dr.:

RA will be paid $300,000 (as required by Fairfax County proffer for recreation), as well as an additional $350,000, which will be used in the refurbishment of the Tetra property. Comstock will get certain building naming rights for a period of 10 years, RA said.

The offer of RA recreational packages for purchase by tenants of the apartment units at a fee annually established by the RA Board of Directors.

Comstock will market the RA recreational packages to its tenants.

At such time the apartment units are converted to condominiums, the payment of a certain percentage of the RA annual assessment rate.

In fulfillment of additional county proffer requirements, RA will be responsible for the administration and staffing of the design review process in coordination with Comstock and, under the direction an Urban Redevelopment Review Panel, responsible for administering design guidelines for the area. Reston Association will be paid an annual fee for such services by Comstock.

The RA Board of Directors voted in March to start the process to add BLVD, which will have one-, two- and three-bedroom luxury units at Reston Station, adjacent to the Wiehle-Reston East Metro station. BLVD is expected to begin leasing later this year.

Under RA Bylaws, properties can be added to the association with written consent of fee simple owner (in this case, Comstock Properties) and a two-thirds vote of the board.

The Board of Directors passed a motion several years ago to make adding new construction in Reston a priority for the association. Properties within Reston Town Center are not in RA territory.

New buildings such as The Harrison, which recently opened on Reston Parkway, and BLVD, as well as planned new and replacement construction at the Crescent Apartments site, are slated to be RA members.

The second hearing will be held June 25.

Photo: BLVD Apartments/file photo

Reston Association has begun the process of adding the 450-unit BLVD apartments to the association.

RA’s Board of Directors voted at its regular meeting on March 26 to undertake the necessary steps to add the 450-unit luxury high rise currently under construction above the Reston Station parking garage adjacent to the Wiehle-Reston East Metro.

BLVD, which will have one-, two- and three-bedroom units, is expected to begin leasing later this year.

Under RA Bylaws, properties can be added to the association with written consent of fee simple owner (in this case, Comstock Properties) and a two-thirds vote of BOD, said RA CEO Cate Fulkerson.

“Before submitted to deed, the board must give notice to members and conduct public hearings,” she said.

The Board of Directors passed a motion several years ago to make adding new construction in Restona priority for the association. Properties within Reston Town Center are not in RA territory. New buildings such as The Harrison, which recently opened on Reston Parkway, and BLVD, as well as planned new and replacement construction at the Crescent Apartments site, are slated to be RA members.

The RA board will vote on the BLVD process on April 15. There will be public hearings on May 28 and June 25, with a final vote by the board in June.

The Stock Market @ Reston Station is looking towards its future as a retail and restaurant destination by searching for some of the staff to make it happen.

Developer Comstock announced in December that the 11,000-square-foot space adjacent to the Wiehle-Reston East Metro stop will become an “urban, hip marketplace and retail space” with between 10-25 vendors.

The Stock Market is a being developed by Michael Holstein. Holstein is an area entertainment lawyer and businessman who founded (and recently sold) Rockville’s Quench restaurant.

Holstein says he is looking for two spots to fill to get going. A Business Development/Sales & Marketing Manager and a Marketing Manager. Click through to see the hiring criteria for both positions. Read More

Comstock announced on Monday that the 11,000-square-foot retail center at Reston Station would become The Stock Market @ Reston Station.

They envision it is as a hip, urban dining and shopping destination. A place to get a glass of wine, an excellent latte, a spot at the oyster bar or pick up a carefully curated artisan gift or gourmet treats.

That leaves a blank canvas for 10 to 25 merchants to set up shop here. Others will test the market with food trucks or pop-up stores.

Michael Holstein, the area businessman who is organizing the project, sees it as similar to D.C.’s Union Market.

For the unfamiliar, developer Edens took an old market in Northeast D.C. and opened it with the new concept for artisanal wares in 2012. It has proven to be so popular that the neighborhood around it is expanding and gentrifying.

Union Market is organized with small booths and flexible spaces. Among some of the permanent  vendors: Red Apron Butcher, Peregrine Espresso,, Rappahanock Oysters Co., DC Empanadas, Salt & Sundry household gift shop and Co Co Sala.

The Stock Market will likely feature two full-service restaurants, with the rest of the vendors in smaller, booth spaces, said Holstein.

So with that in mind, what would you like to see set up shop here in Reston? The developers are listening, so speak up in the comments.

Photo: The retail center at Reston Station

Now that Metro’s Silver Line is open, what else will open around it at Wiehle-Reston East? That will be the subject of a program at Reston Community Center Lake Anne Thursday at 7 p.m.

The Reston Museum and Historic Trust is sponsoring a panel discussion on the future of the Reston Station neighborhood. Panelists include Chuck Veatch (the Charles A. Veatch Co.); Maggie Parker (Comstock Partners); Matt Valentini (The JBG Companies); and Heidi Merkel (Fairfax County Planning & Zoning).

While there are several residential buildings in the works, no retail has yet opened at or close to Wiehle-Reston East.

Comstock is planning to eventually have about 1 million square feet of residential, office, hotel and retail space at Reston Station, which sits on top of the 3,000-space parking garage at Wiehle-Reston East.

So far, only the 10,000-square-foot retail space is completed at Reston Station. No tenants have yet signed to open there, Parker says. Eventually, that space will the lobby of the hotel.

The BLVD Apartments at Reston Station are under construction. The 22-story, 450-unit building is expected to be completed next year.

Later this year or early next year, construction will begin on Veatch’s project, a 421-unit residential building to be constructed on the site of Reston Mini-Storage.

Reston Mini-Storage, at 11405 Sunset Hills Rd., as well as an adjacent commercial strip will close this fall to make way for the new building.

The Reston Station neighborhood is essentially being built from scratch. Up until 2011, the corridor along the Dulles Toll Road was zoned for industrial and commercial use, so no people lived in the neighborhood.

Those restrictions were lifted in order to ensure future development along Sunset Hills Road near Wiehle-Reston East was mixed use, high density and transit oriented.

Photo: BLVD Apartments at Reston Station under construction