Work surrounding the construction of the Hunters Woods at Trails Edge Senior Living Community will disrupt walkways in the area, including forcing the closing of the underpass to Hunters Woods Village Center, for up to two years.
According to information provided by Reston Association, temporary pathways will be created in the area of the construction, 2222 Colts Neck Road. This will include the building of a new pedestrian bridge over Snakeden Creek near the property to ensure access to Colts Neck Road from Reston Parkway remains.
Pedestrians who regularly use the Colts Neck Road underpass to access Hunters Woods Village Center from Reston Parkway can walk to the intersections of Glade Drive or South Lakes Drive where there are signaled crosswalks, RA says.
Developer Atlantic Realty Company will pay for pathway alterations in the area of the construction. The temporary trails will be wood-chipped and unlighted. According to RA, they may not be suitable for bicycles or strollers.
The work to re-route the pathways is expected to begin within the next two weeks.
ARC has agreed, as part of its work to construct the senior-living facility to contribute $81,300 to improve pedestrian trails and pathway lighting within a half-mile of the facility. It also will be putting $60,000 into improvement of the facade of the Colts Neck pedestrian underpass, in coordination with Public Art Reston and Reston Association.
Map courtesy Reston Association
County’s Eastern Portion Closing Business Gap — The western part of Fairfax County, including Reston and Tysons, continues to far and away lead the county’s commercial economy. But the quickest growing nonresidential properties of the county, according to newly released data, are in the Springfield and Alexandria areas. [Washington Business Journal]
Parents of Special-Needs Students Form Own PTA — The Fairfax County Special Education PTA is planning a meeting April 25 to vote on its bylaws and form an executive board. [Fairfax County Public Schools]
Parking Controversy the Source of April Fool’s Fodder — At least a couple creative local residents decided to have some fun over the weekend with stories about what “happened” at the Town Center on April 1. [Restonian/Medium.com]
Grab a Free Ice Cream Cone — Today is “Free Cone Day” at Ben & Jerry’s, including the local shop at 11916 Market St. at Reston Town Center. The company has celebrated the annual event since 1979. Cones will be available from noon to 8 p.m. [Ben & Jerry’s]
Reston National Golf Course has been advertised for potential redevelopment, but a lot would need to happen for that to take place, Fairfax County Supervisor Cathy Hudgins is reminding constituents.
In a statement to media Monday morning, Hudgins said an interpretation of the property’s status made by Fairfax County’s Department of Planning and Zoning is “clear and concise.”
“According to the interpretation, the process is clear and concise and must be followed in order for development other than a golf course or open space to be considered for the property,” Hudgins said.
The interpretation of the golf course property by Fairfax County Planning and Zoning reads:
“Based on the previous approvals, the redevelopment of the property from a golf course to residential uses would first require an amendment to the Reston Master Plan which is part of the Fairfax County Comprehensive Plan, as well as obtaining both Development Plan Amendment approval and Planned Residential Community Plan approval from the Board of Supervisors.”
According to Hudgins’ office, the supervisor made the statement Monday in response to the recent advertisement of the property by developer ARA Newmark as well as a recent article on real-estate news site GlobeSt, which quoted specific rumored sale prices and development values for the property. Hudgins believes the characterization of the property as a “by-right, mixed-use development opportunity” could be misleading to some residents, who may believe its redevelopment to be “a done deal,” her office stated.
Activist group Rescue Reston, which fought against a previous attempt to redevelop the property, has stated it will “mobilize [its] allies and supporters as necessary to oppose any attempt to amend the Comprehensive Plan that would threaten our open space.”
Speaking to community business leaders Thursday in Herndon, Fairfax County Supervisor Cathy Hudgins said the amount of development taking place within Reston’s Transit Station Areas has surpassed expectations and has positioned Reston as an economic driver for the county, region and state.
At the Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce’s legislative panel event, Hudgins said she and others believed Tysons Corner would grow faster than Reston when their respective plans were first laid out.
“I think it’s the reverse of that now, and I think it’s the reverse of it because Reston is a very stable community,” Hudgins said. “[It is] a community well-established, different from this [transit-oriented] development but very much in concert with it.”
Hudgins showed her audience a map featuring the three Reston TSAs — encompassing the Wiehle-Reston East Metro station as well as the future Reston Town Center and Herndon stations — and pointed out more than 40 development projects that are in the works within those boundaries.
“This would not be happening if we had not approved the transit that is coming to the area,” she said. “It’s working.”
Hudgins said the Tax Service Districts that have been established in Reston and Tysons in order to help fund transportation improvements in the community were “a lot of work” to develop, but they represent a “success model” for the county. She said increasing public transit and making more walkable communities around the stations is “a creative, very smart way to approach how we develop and keep economic development going.”
“Many folks — not just millenials, but seniors — find it important to be able to live in a community where everything is at their fingertips,” Hudgins said. “[With transit-oriented development], they feel that there is housing that fits for them, there’s recreation that fits for them, and there are restaurants and the thriving other services that they need. They aren’t getting in their car. They want to be able to walk or take transit, and that’s what’s happening here.”
Hudgins said that when the Reston Plan was approved over 50 years ago, it said “Fairfax County would be wise if they would establish these areas, preserving more open space for single-family homes and others, but bringing these more dense areas to concentrate things.”
“Fifty years later, we’re getting there,” she said. “I think it’s going to be the story about how Fairfax County continues to thrive.”
Dirt was overturned Thursday morning at 2222 Colts Neck Road, which will soon become the home of the Hunters Woods at Trails Edge Senior Living Community.
The former site of the United Christian Parish church will be transformed between now and January 2019, project leadership says. When complete, the IntegraCare facility will have 210 senior-living units — including 90 independent living units, 81 for assisted living, 24 for memory care and 15 for special needs.
“This facility is going to offer a very broad continuum of services for the seniors in our community,” said David A. Ross, partner and president of developer Atlantic Realty Companies. “We are proud to bring this leading-edge amenity to the community, the first of its kind in Reston.”
The property is located roughly across Colts Neck Road from the entrance to Hunters Woods Village Center. As part of its partnership with the community, the developer has agreed to contribute $81,300 to improve pedestrian trails and pathway lighting within a half-mile of the facility; as well as $60,000 to target improvement of the facade of the Colts Neck pedestrian underpass, in coordination with Public Art Reston and Reston Association.
In addition, $20,000 is being provided for capital improvements to the Nature House.
Fairfax County Supervisor Cathy Hudgins said these contributions show an understanding of community needs.
“We, 50-plus years old here in Reston, know that for those of us who want to stay here, you have to provide a place for us,” she said. “This is a really great facility in that it meets those needs and it really serves the community.”
Ellen Graves, president of the Reston Association Board of Directors, said the addition of the senior-living community to Reston is a promotion of founder Bob Simon’s vision of providing for people throughout their entire lives.
“[The project supports this] by providing the fullest range of housing, styles and prices,” she said. “Hunters Woods at Trails Edge will provide a choice for those growing older in our community and who want to remain here.”
Among the independent-living units, 20 percent will be designated as affordable housing units, while 4 percent of the assisted-living beds will be for those eligible for the Virginia Department for Aging and Rehabilitative Services Auxiliary Grant Program. There is planned to be 48 full-time staff positions on site, with other medical service professionals providing on-site services as well.
Thursday’s ceremony represented the latest milestone in a 10-year journey to make the facility a reality. The 4.3-acre site was first approved by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors for 210 independent-living units in 2007, but the plan was later amended to the current design. The new plan was approved by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors in May 2016.
Pennsylvania-based IntegraCare has several other communities in the Mid-Atlantic region, but this will be its first in Virginia.
“This is really a once-in-a-career opportunity, to be involved in a project that has the nature of this project,” said Rick Irwin, the company’s CEO. “[We are grateful to have] the opportunity to be right near the Reston Community Center and the Southgate Community Center, where our residents can get our support and care but [also] maximize their independence… and have such great access to stay within the fabric of this Reston community.”
Bozzuto Management brought the seventh version of its plan to redevelop St. Johns Wood to the Reston Planning & Zoning Committee for a public information session Monday.
Dozens of community members, many sporting yellow “Reclaim Reston” T-shirts, were in attendance to hear what Bozzuto and the P&Z had to say, and to give their thoughts on the matter — which, for the most part, haven’t changed.
The latest incarnation of the developer’s plan for the community features 481 mid-rise, multifamily units in two buildings. All townhouses that had been part of previous designs have been removed from the plan. Heights of the buildings have been reduced “significantly,” according to Brian Winterhalter, Cooley LLP commercial real-estate attorney, who presented the plan to the committee.
In addition, Winterhalter said a tree buffer along Center Harbor Road has been restored in its entirety; setbacks on all sides of the site have been increased; open space in the site plan has been increased to 55 percent; proffers have been added to account for pedestrian and vehicle safety on Center Harbor Road; and a community-gathering area and recreational facilities have been relocated and expanded.
With the changes, several members of the Planning & Zoning Committee said the developers are getting closer to where they need to be. But residents, who have been opposed to the project since it was first proposed in 2014, remained unwavering.
The development would top out at five stories at its center — and the property sits at the highest elevation in North Reston, concerned residents pointed out.
“Size matters” was the mantra of one resident who spoke, Bruce Ramo of Hemingway Cluster, who said Bozzuto’s proposal is “irreconcilably inconsistent with the Comprehensive Plan.”
“Size matters when you propose to place a nearly 60-foot-tall building on the highest point of the highest ridge in the area, so it towers above the surrounding neighborhoods,” he said while listing potential problems with the development. “There are more reasons to send the developer again back to the drawing boards — or preferably, back to Maryland.”
Bozzuto Management tonight will present to the Reston Planning & Zoning Committee the latest tweaks to its application to redevelop St. Johns Wood.
While the topic was not on the agenda of last week’s Reston Association Board of Directors meeting, Director Ray Wedell spoke for about 10 minutes in regard to a rumor that an email question-and-answer opportunity with Bozzuto was being set up by RA for members.
“To open the door in any manner for any member to directly confront Bozzuto or discuss with Bozzuto anything about this when we have on the table that we’re firmly opposed to this… would be a huge, huge, huge mistake,” Wedell said. “If I’m wrong, at least make the board vote on it to say that.”
CEO Cate Fulkerson said, contrary to the rumor, no email service for members to submit questions for Bozzuto has been created. She did say that in response to a member’s suggestion, there had been discussion about setting up a page on RA’s website for staff to answer member questions about Bozzuto’s proposal.
The most recent proposal for the redevelopment of St. Johns Wood called for two multifamily residential buildings totaling 467 units, along with 44 townhomes. Last year, the Board of Directors unanimously passed a resolution stating it is firmly against the plan. A letter communicating such was sent to the county in September. Considering that, Wedell said, RA should not entertain any further discussion of the proposal.
“If we can’t kill this abomination, we’ll never kill anything,” Wedell said. “And there’s a hell of a lot of abominations coming, as we all know.”
Fulkerson reiterated to Wedell that no work has been done by her or staff to extend the conversation through a Q&A with Bozzuto.
“We have done nothing,” Fulkerson told him. “I want to make it very clear, no email Q&A has been set up [and] nothing has changed on the Association’s website.”
While the RA Board and concerned members have both expressed their displeasure with the proposal to Bozzuto, the developer remains within its rights to propose the redevelopment. That could be approved by the county through waivers and exemptions to the Master Plan. The plan is scheduled to be reviewed again by the Fairfax County Planning Commission on May 25.
Tonight’s meeting of the Reston Planning & Zoning Committee to hear Bozzuto’s latest proposal is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at RA Headquarters (12001 Sunrise Valley Drive).
Kensington Senior Development LLC hopes to put an assisted-living facility on Sunrise Valley Drive, and the public is invited to give its input.
Fairfax County’s Health Care Advisory Board will hold a public meeting on the proposal Monday, April 3 at 7:30 p.m. at the county Government Center (12000 Government Center Parkway, Fairfax). At the meeting, a special-exemption application from Kensington to put the facility at 11501 Sunrise Valley Drive will be reviewed.
The sale of the property to Kensington by its current owners, the Good Beginnings School, is contingent upon the approval of the plan by the county.
The application is scheduled for a Sept. 27 hearing before the county Planning Commission. The Health Care Advisory Board, meanwhile, is tasked with reviewing the application from a health care perspective rather than land use, using criteria such as community and medical need, access to care, cost, quality, and continuity of care.
HCAB will make recommendations regarding the proposal to the Board of Supervisors and the Planning Commission.
The current plan for Kensington’s proposed 91,000-square-foot Reston facility includes 91 units and 125 to 135 beds. The 2 1/2- to 3 1/2-story facility would feature underground parking. A representative from Cooley LLP presented the plan to Reston’s Design Review Board on Feb. 21.
Members of the public are welcome to attend the April 3 meeting of HCAB and provide comments. Anyone who wishes to speak should call 703-246-8664 by Friday. Written comments can also be considered, if they are received prior to the meeting. They can be sent by email to [email protected] or by mail to HCAB Staff Coordinator, Health Department, 10777 Main St., Suite 203, Fairfax, VA 22030.
Report: Golf Course Could Sell for $25-$35M — Real-estate news website GlobeSt.com reported earlier this week that it hears anyone who buys Reston National Golf Course for that price and gets approval for development might be looking at a $200 million windfall. [GlobeSt.com]
Mobile DMV Service Coming to Reston — DMV 2 Go, the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles’ mobile service, will soon visit Reston. DMV 2 Go is a handicapped-accessible full-service office that provides all DMV transactions. The mobile DMV will be at the North County Government Center (1801 Cameron Glen Drive) from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 3-6. [Virginia DMV]
Independent Panel to Study Metro’s Woes — Former U.S. transportation secretary Ray LaHood will take charge of a panel to examine Metro’s governance and long-term financial needs. Meanwhile, Metro’s general manager says the system needs major work to fix its “unsustainable cost model.” [Washington Post]
South Lakes Lacrosse Team Kicks Off 2017 — The Seahawks’ boys lacrosse team won its conference and advanced to the state tournament last year. They started the 2017 season with a 16-3 win over Fairfax last week, and though they dropped their second contest to Stone Ridge, they still have big dreams. [South Lakes Athletics]
Proposed rezoning of Golf Course Plaza, a three-acre parcel on the west edge of Isaac Newton Square, is scheduled for a Fairfax County Planning Commission hearing June 21.
The proposal, which first came to light in May 2016, would see the property (11480 Sunset Hills Road) become the home of a 392,600-square-foot multifamily residential structure with three levels of underground parking. Currently on the parcel is a three-story office building and a surface parking lot.
The residential building would feature 413 units. Developer Golf Course Overlook LLC seeks to rezone the property from I-5 (General Industrial) to Planned Residential Mixed-Use. According to the summary of Reston Association’s March land development tracker, it is “unclear whether any commercial uses would be retained” on the property.
The site is between the W&OD Trail and the fourth hole of the Hidden Creek Country Club golf course. It is about a third of a mile from the Wiehle-Reston East Metro station. According to the land development tracker summary:
“The site is located in the Wiehle Station Transit-Oriented Development District and designated Residential Mixed Use, which seeks to retain a 75/25 mix of residential and non-residential uses respectively, at intensities of up to a 1.5 FAR [Floor Area Ratio]. Isaac Newton Square is planned to be home to 3,200 (of the 4,600) residential units for this district.”
A county staff report on the project is to be released June 6. Signs advertising the hearing are to go up May 31.
Images via Golf Course Overlook LLC
An investment advisory firm has scheduled a Thursday informational meeting for those interested in purchasing up to 68 acres of land off Hunter Mill Road near the Dulles Toll Road.
ARA Newmark is advertising two properties in what it is calling the Hunter Mill Assemblage — 46 acres west of Hunter Mill Road and 22 acres east — for possible residential or other development. The property west of the road borders Sunset Hills Road to the south, while the property east of the road abuts the Dulles Toll Road. The latter is the former home of the Golf Park at Hunter Mill.
According to an email from ARA Newmark advertising the meeting, the properties are the last unplanned parcels on the Toll Road and offer “unparalled development opportunity” to a buyer or buyers:
“After a multigenerational family ownership, these Properties will be offered to the open market for the first time. [The Hunter Mill Assemblage], consisting of two tracts of 46 and 22 acres, is located on the north side of The Dulles Toll Road on both the East and West sides of Hunter Mill Road. The tracts are being offered separately but may be purchased together.”
The land was owned for decades by the Thoburn family.
ARA Newmark says the land’s usage could include residential development, mixed-use development, an assisted-living facility, a religious institution, a private school or something else. According to the material from ARA Landmark, offers to buy the properties must be in by April 21.
Property behind the former golf park site is already seeing heavy construction work, as it will soon become the new campus of Oakcrest School, a private girls’ school. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints also has plans for a 16,500-square foot church at the intersection with Crowell Road. Defense contractor General Dynamics is also putting its new headquarters nearby on Sunset Hills Road.
Roundabouts are being considered for several intersections along Hunter Mill Road to handle increasing congestion in the area.
The meeting, which is limited to qualified buyers who have signed a confidentiality agreement, is scheduled for Thursday at 10 a.m. at 1420 Spring Hill Road in Tysons.
Map via ARA Newmark
The site of a private school in Reston is facing a changing future.
Kensington Senior Development LLC is working with Fairfax County on an application to put an assisted-living facility at 11501 Sunrise Valley Drive, the current home of Good Beginnings School. Miaoling Lin, the school’s administrator, says the site is expected to operate as a school through at least the end of 2018.
The sale of the property to Kensington is contingent upon the plan’s approval by the county, Lin said. Meanwhile, a permit has been filed with Fairfax County for Oak Hill Montessori School to open at the site for a month in April.
“They are in between buildings, and we are shrinking, so we have room for them to use temporarily,” Lin said.
Lin said Good Beginnings will continue to operate at the site through June, after which a school called Mosaic will take over the facility.
Lin said some of the staff of Good Beginnings in Reston will be staying on site with Mosaic and some will be moving to the school’s Loudoun County campus in Stone Ridge. The school has a meeting scheduled for Thursday night to introduce Mosaic to parents interested in staying at the current site after June.
Several years in the making, work will soon begin on construction of a 230,000-square foot senior living facility at a former site of the United Christian Parish church.
Ground is scheduled to be broken on the IntegraCare facility at 2222 Colts Neck Road on March 30. The project, expected to be completed by 2020, will include 91 independent-living units along with 79 assisted-living units, 24 memory-care units and 16 units for high-acuity patients.
The 4.3-acre site was first approved by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors for 210 independent-living units in 2007, but the plan was later amended to the current design. The new plan was approved by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors in May.
The building is to be constructed in two wings, one along Colts Neck Road and the other along Reston Parkway. The former church building still stands on the wooded site, the entrance to which is roughly across from the entrance to Hunters Woods Village Center. A permit application to demolish the building was filed March 9 with Fairfax County.
This will be Wexford, Pennsylvania-based IntegraCare‘s first facility in Virginia.
Illustration via Fairfax County; Map via Google
A developer has submitted an application to rezone another property off Sunset Hills Road near Wiehle-Reston East Metro station to residential use.
Faraday Partners LLC has made the request for 2.9 acres at 1808 Michael Faraday Court to become a multifamily dwelling area. The Washington Business Journal reports the proposed project is a seven-story apartment building with up to 261 units.
Quoting the statement of justification, the project is described as drawing upon “traditional motifs that are reminiscent in design, height and historic loft-style industrial buildings found in revitalized urban areas.”
Michael Faraday Court is a short road off Sunset Hills with no outlet. In addition to the property in question, it is home to the SkateQuest facility and an office building.
A 2-acre portion of the site is currently zoned I-5 (general industrial), while the other nine-tenths of an acre is zoned I-4 (limited industrial). The site is the former home of the Academy of Christian Education, which moved to Parkridge Boulevard last year.
This is just another in an ever-growing list of residential projects proposed for the corridor east of Wiehle Avenue. Others include:
- The JBG/1831 Wiehle project, which would bring 1,300 to 1,500 new residences on six parcels between Wiehle Avenue and Michael Faraday Drive
- 175 multifamily units and 13 townhouses at 11111 Sunset Hills Road, just east of Michael Faraday Drive and adjacent to the JBG/1831 Wiehle project
- The Lofts at Reston Station, 44 residences at 1825 Michael Faraday Drive (approved by Fairfax County in October)
Numerous additional projects are in the works on the west side of Wiehle Avenue as well. In 2014, Fairfax County reworked Reston’s land-use plan to encourage such development in the area of the Wiehle-Reston East Metro station, as well as the future Reston Town Center and Herndon stations.
“In the future, the three station areas could become home to a total of 30 million square feet in offices and 28,000 housing units,” the county said in its announcement of the plan’s revision. “The plan aims to make [the Wiehle-Reston East] station area an education-focused neighborhood with housing that is well-connected to transit by new walkable streets.”
After the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors passed the Reston Transportation Funding Plan last month, the next step will be the official creation of the Reston Transportation Service District.
Community meetings on the subject are slated for Tuesday, March 21 from 7-9 p.m. at Coates Elementary School (2480 River Birch Road, Herndon) and Wednesday, March 29 from 7-9 p.m. at Langston Hughes Middle School (11401 Ridge Heights Road, Reston).
The $2.27 billion, 40-year funding plan, which includes a 2.1-cent/$100 of assessed value tax assessed to properties in the Reston Transit Station Area, was approved Feb. 28 by the Board. Under the agreed-upon plan, current homeowners in the TSA will be responsible for up to $44.6 million of the estimated cost. The remainder of the tax funds (totaling $350 million) will be collected from commercial/industrial properties and from residential properties built in the future, according to information provided at the Feb. 28 meeting. The list of parcels included in the TSA is available on the Fairfax County website.
A public hearing on the creation of the Reston Transportation Service District is scheduled for 2 p.m. Tuesday, April 4, at the Fairfax County Government Center. (12000 Government Circle Parkway, Fairfax). Individuals interested in speaking at the public hearing before the Board of Supervisors are asked to register in advance with the Office of the Clerk to the Board.
More information on the Reston Network Analysis is available on the Fairfax County Department of Transportation website.
