Welcome to the club — Reston Association added two new residential developments into the association. That’s a total of 98 units located at The Lofts at Reston Station and Valley & Park. [Reston Association]

An ode to Thomas Jefferson — Keep an eye out. Founding Farmers at Reston Station will open some time in early April. [Washingtonian]

Wind Warning in effect through 7 p.m. — The National Weather Service has issued a wind warning for Fairfax County. [National Weather Service]

Don’t forget: Reston Association assessments are due today — RA will have extended hours through today so members can make their final assessment payments. [Reston Association]

Photo by Fatimah Waseem

Founding Farmers plans to open its Reston Station location in early 2018.

The opening of the restaurant, originally set for summer 2017, was delayed due after plans to the 10,000-square-foot location (1901 Reston Metro Plaza Drive) were revamped.

No firm opening date has been made public, although the company has begun hiring for all positions and expects to open in the first quarter of this year. In August, a company representative told Reston Now the restaurant will open next month.

A spokesperson for Comstock Partners, the owner of Reston Station, said the company went back to the drawing board to improve the design and layout of the restaurant after opening a new location — Farmers & Distillers — in the District.

“After opening their downtown D.C. restaurant a year ago, they decided to make some major changes to better improve operations,” said Maggie Parker, vice president of communications and community outreach for Comstock Partners. “They can’t wait to open.”

The Reston restaurant rests on the ground floor of a planned 200-room hotel at Reston Station and on top of the 3,500-space Reston Station Transit Facility. A large mezzanine is planned at the site, which sits next to the 45o-unit BLVD at Reston Station.

The farmer-owned restaurant include a full-service menu and bar with breakfast, lunch and dinner and a Farmers Market buffet brunch on weekends. A “First Bake” menu will offer takeaway breakfast and coffee on weekday mornings, according to the restaurant’s website.

Founding Farmers is owned by more than 47,000 family farmers of the North Dakota Farmers Union and is supplied by hundreds of family farms, according to its website.

No update was available on when Sweet Leaf, a locally owned cafe chain scheduled to open next to Founding Farmers will open. Signage on the store front indicates an opening in the winter of last year.

(This post was updated on Friday, Jan. 12 at 10:29 a.m. to include background about Founding Farmers). 

Photo by Fatimah Waseem

Founding Farmers has pushed back its opening at Reston Station until mid-2017.

The Washington Business Journal reports that that the restaurant will be delayed until next summer.

It was exactly a year ago this week that Founding Farmers announced its plans to open a 10,000-square-foot restaurant in Reston.

Initial estimates from Reston Station developer Comstock and Founding Farmers said the opening would be late 2016 or early 2017, but a peek into the the space last week showed it is still empty and no work has begun.

Founding Farmers will have a large mezzanine, which is complicating the construction permits, Farmers Restaurant Group CEO Dan Simons said.

“The combination of engineering complexities (we’re building a fantastic mezzanine) and the typical permit process labyrinth combined to push the timeline longer than originally planned,” he told WBJ.

Founding Farmers Reston will be on the ground floor of a planned 200-room hotel at Reston Station. No hotel tenant has been signed yet.

Comstock, which is developing Reston Station, is also hoping to sign a large, upscale restaurant for the ground floor space of the office tower that is currently under construction on the plaza.

Farmers Restaurant Group, which has restaurants in DC, Maryland and at Tysons Corner in Virginia, is preparing to open a new property, Farmers & Distillers, in DC.

Rendering of completed Reston Station development/Credit: Comstock

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