A housing company is looking to transform wooded land near Route 28 in McNair with townhomes, part of a years-old vision to bring an elementary school and additional housing to the area.
Van Metre Homes at Sunrise Valley, tied to the Van Metre real estate companies, acquired the property in December 2020 for $26.1 million. The developer submitted an application in August to build 157 traditional townhomes and 36 stacked townhomes, Dranesville District Supervisor John Foust’s office confirmed.
The company declined to discuss the project.
The property runs along Frying Pan Road and Sunrise Valley Drive in McNair, near office parks and residential neighborhoods, including the Towns at Carters Grove development that’s currently under construction.
Van Metre will need site and building approvals for the project from the county, which said yesterday (Thursday) that it is still reviewing the application.
In 2019, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors rezoned the nearly 44-acre parcel from an industrial zone to a residential area with mixed-use commercial possibilities. The vote required the developer to dedicate 5.5 acres of land to a planned Silver Line elementary school.
Fairfax County Public Schools’ current proposed capital improvement program has planning and design work on the school slated to begin in fiscal year 2024, which runs from July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024.
Pomeroy/Clark, a joint venture between Bethesda investment firm Clark Enterprises and Fairfax’s Pomeroy Development Company, submitted the original rezoning plan in 2016.
Plans showed a new road being extended under overhead transmission lines from Frying Pan Road to River Birch Road.
Van Metre already owns the Woodland Park apartment complex that takes up nearly 27 acres a few miles up the road.
Photo via Google Maps
The clocktower plaza in McNair will have a new Mexican street food restaurant, aiming to open this summer.
Taco Bamba, which has locations throughout Northern Virginia and Maryland, has signed a lease for a new eatery in Village Center at Dulles (2445 Centreville Road), a representative told Reston Now.
“I believe Herndon is a true melting pot of cultures and people from different backgrounds,” award-winning chef Victor Albisu said in a statement. “It is the type of area where Taco Bamba can thrive creatively.”
The 2,850 square-foot space will feature 20 to 30 indoor seats, including bar seating, as well as a seasonal patio.
A spokesperson for the company, Justin Rude, said it’s going to replace Rubino’s Pizzeria but will require work to make it ready.
“Like all Taco Bamba locations, the menu of traditional tacos will be supported by a list of creations honoring the surrounding neighborhood,” the company said in a news release. “The German-style clocktower center will also play a role as we create odes to various ethnic offerings around town.”
Foodies will remember that Albisu competed on Food Network’s “Beat Bobby Flay” in 2015 and won with a steak and eggs dish. He also appeared as a guest judge on Telemundo’s “Top Chef Estrellas” and “Hell’s Kitchen.”
Albisu noted that the company has its eyes on national expansion, but the Northern Virginia-based concept and brand believes in growing locally.
The Herndon restaurant’s menu will be unique, with neighborhood-specific empanadas and feature tacos, tostadas, and super tortas. It will also have free coffee until noon to accompany its all-day breakfast items, according to the news release.
Albisu, a Vienna resident, opened the first location of Taco Bamba in Idylwood in June 2013. With an Alexandria restaurant expected to open early this year, the Herndon location will give Taco Bamba a total of seven sites in Northern Virginia.
Photo via Google Maps
Construction crews are starting a new development with townhomes starting in the mid $700,000s along Frying Pan Road.
The Floris development by Sunrise Valley Drive will feature three-to-five bedroom homes some 2,301-3,131 square feet in size, according to a Beazer Homes project page for the development, dubbed Towns at Carters Grove.
The rapidly changing area is emerging as a residential neighborhood, with several people buying and moving into newly completed homes in the Foster’s Glen development this past fall as construction there continues.
The Beazer development will span across three new roads in a new cul-de-sac consisting of Tayberry Way, Wineberry Terrace and Loganberry Drive.
The new development calls for three-story homes, according to the company, and county property records suggest there could be up to 35 residences built there, grouped in clusters.
The development comes through subdivisions from New York City-based real estate investment firm JEN Partners. According to Beazer, the townhomes will be coming this spring.
Investment firms in New York and Canada spent hundreds of millions of dollars this year to acquire office and residential buildings near the Dulles International Airport in Fairfax County.
Ivanhoé Cambridge, a real estate company based in Montreal, acquired Ashton at Dulles Corner, a set of luxury apartment buildings along Sunrise Valley Drive in McNair, on Nov. 12 for over $149 million. A spokesperson, Véronique Désilets, suggested by email that the company increased an existing stake it has in the property but declined to say what its long-term plans are for the property.
It’s still being managed by global real estate developer and property manager Greystar, which is headquartered in Charleston, S.C.
Manhattan-based Innovatus Capital Partners acquired three office buildings located at 13530 and 13560 Dulles Technology Drive on May 28 for $113.5 million. According to its website, the investment firm seeks to “identify and capitalize on market distress, disruption, and growth.”
And the North American Islamic Foundation, which holds prayers and religious classes at its current location at 13515 Dulles Technology Drive, Suite 1, bought a building next door that currently houses the Little Oaks Montessori Academy and Oak Hill Christian School. The $6.8 million purchase happened on Aug. 30.
“An expansion plan is underway on the main campus to match the needs of the rapidly growing community,” NAIF says on its website.
Officials with Innovatus Capital Partners and NAIF declined to respond to messages seeking comment about their plans.
The properties are near the yet-to-open Innovation Center Station for the continued expansion of Metrorail’s Silver Line, which is still facing delays. It also comes as the pandemic has led businesses to rethink whether they’re using office space as efficiently as possible.
Developers are already there, constructing apartments, townhomes and condos, a senior facility, and more along with plans to further transform the office and residential park.
Photo via Google Maps
The first step of a development vision, sidetracked for years by legal action from a neighboring business group, is moving forward.
The extension of McNair Farms Road is being built near Arrowbrook Park. It’s what developers have sought to accomplish as early as 2017 to help connect a nearby wooded property originally eyed for apartments.
“Stanley Martin Homes is developing a residential neighborhood on Dulles Technology Drive and has contracted with William A. Hazel Inc. to construct the extension of McNair Farms Drive,” the county said in an online post on Oct. 20 after people asked about the park’s pond and trail being closed off.
Stanley Martin Homes got approval in 2018 to build 172 units in stacked townhomes that could be four stories tall. It also received the county’s OK to alternatively pursue a previously approved 2017 plan that would involve building two six-story buildings for 460 units.
But a neighboring business group sued in 2018, saying its property value diminished by $3.3 million, a court document said. The business group — an office condominium association consisting of Spectrum Innovative Properties, McWhorter and Mulpuri Properties — claimed a four-lane extension of McNair Farms Drive would take approximately 12% of its property.
The lawsuit and appeals involved Fairfax County Board of Supervisors as the primary defendant, and the case eventually went to the Virginia Supreme Court, which issued an order May 20, 2021, that found the business group had no additional injuries from the 2018 approval and had no standing for the case.
The Virginia Supreme Court’s order follows Stanley Martin Homes’ purchase of the property for nearly $20.4 million in December 2020 from JLB Dulles Tech LLC — an entity linked to Dallas-based multifamily developer JLB Partners — that had the previous approval in 2017.
The road extension has temporarily closed Arrowbrook Park, where heavy equipment gained access to the site along a pond. The county and Stanley Martin Homes suggested the park work could be completed this summer or be at the point where at least trail access would be restored.
Part of the Stanley Martin Homes property hugs another access point: Dulles Technology Drive, where construction crews are also accessing the site to build the McNair Farms Drive extension.
The Stanley Martin Homes executive said the company plans to submit an application to the Virginia Department of Transportation to connect a traffic light at Centreville Road with the soon-to-be-built McNair Farms Drive extension, which requires building a bridge.
The executive with Stanley Martin Homes, a subsidiary of the Japan-based Daiwa House Group, said the company will build stacked townhomes there.
