Bozzuto Development’s plans for redevelopment of St. Johns Wood Apartments are taking shape.
Last fall, the developer filed a proposal with the Fairfax County Planning Commission to redevelop the nine-building, 250-unit garden apartment neighborhood in North Reston into a new complex of 635 new apartments and 34 townhomes.
St. Johns Wood is located at Reston Parkway and Center Harbor Drive close to North Point Village Center. It is one of the few rental complexes in the nearby Buzz Aldrin Elementary School district.
St. Johns Wood is more than a mile from the future Reston Town Center Metro station, so the density of the neighborhood is going to have to be specified as the plan moves forward.
The current Reston Master Plan specifies the neighborhood is high density, but the Phase 2 of the Reston Master Plan, which will be considered by the Fairfax County Planning Commission on Wednesday, recommends lower density. The plan update also calls for Reston neighborhoods, should they be redeveloped, to retain the same character and density.
Bozzuto did not submit a redevelopment proposal during the Reston Master Plan review process. The company did recently submit a letter requesting the right to develop at higher density as permitted under the current Reston Master Plan or a site-specific exception for the property.
The letter may be discussed at the planning commission meeting on Wednesday, where further details on the project will likely be discussed.
Bozzuto reps made a presentation to the Reston Planning and Zoning Committee on Monday and are scheduled to present to the Reston Association Design Review Board on Tuesday.
Bozzuto last met with those groups in December, and the preliminary plans were criticized as too urban for the location, Reston 2020 reports on its website. Reston 2020 also has the full development plan.
The new owners of Tall Oaks Village Center are offering Reston residents two upcoming chances to see what changes they have in store for the nearly vacant center.
Tall Oaks Development Group, a division of the Jefferson Apartment Group of McLean purchased Tall Oaks in December for $14.3 million.
The Jefferson Apartment group has developed more than 18,000 rental units in 10 states, including Virginia.
Locally, the Jefferson Apartment Group has developed, among others, the Residences at the Fairfax County Government Center, Tellus in Arlington, The Asher in Alexandria and the Jefferson at 14W, a seven-story, mixed-use luxury development in Northwest DC.
Jefferson representatives, who did not return phone calls Wednesday, will hold meetings April 23 and 27 at 7 p.m. at Reston Association headquarters, 12001 Sunrise Valley Dr.
RA says Tall Oaks is being considered for a redevelopment project that would include a mix of residential and commercial uses. The Jefferson Group will provide a brief overview of the center’s history along with a proposed conceptual plan for redevelopment at the April meetings. The company will also provide comment/response cards for meeting attendees to fill out.
Tall Oaks is zoned industrial/commercial, so turning the 7.6-acre parcel into residential would likely involve rezoning, as well as approval by the RA Design Review Board, Fairfax County Planning Commission and the county Board of Supervisors.
What do do with Tall Oaks, which in the last several years has seen many tenants leave the village center without new ones opening, has been a subject discussed at length in Reston.
Last fall, residents at a Master Plan Phase 2 meeting suggested that it may be time to repurpose Tall Oaks‘ 18-acre site as something other than a retail center. The center is about a mile from the Wiehle-Reston East Metro.
The anchor space, which housed a Giant Foods and later two international grocery stores, has been empty for more than four years. The stand-alone former Burger King space has been vacant for nearly a decade. Other recent departures include El Manantial restaurant, Curves, 7-Eleven and Total Rehab Chiropractic.
It was suggested at the Phase 2 meetings last fall that Tall Oaks could survive as a convenience center with limited retail and the remaining space could be used for a variety of other purposes.
Just what is RTC West and where at the Reston Town Center will it be located?
That’s a question Reston Now got a lot on Tuesday, when it posted that Cooper’s Hawk Winery and Restaurant will be the first tenant at the 40,000-square-foot retail-and-restaurant destination.
A few basics:
RTC West is being developed by JBG Companies.
RTC West is NOT at the town center. RTC West will be built where three office buildings and a parking garage currently stand at Sunset Hills Road and Town Center Parkway. It is also bordered by the W & OD Trail and the Sunset Hills area that contains Chick-fil-A, Potbelly Sandwich Works, Chipotle and more.
JBG’s plan, which was approved by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors last week, will mostly add the retail space to the first two floors of the office buildings.
JBG says it plans to convert 15,100 square feet of office space to retail/restaurant space and add 25,000 square feet of new retail/restaurant space (on the southwest corner of the site), including outdoor seating.
The addition of RTC West brings amenities closer to where the Reston Town Center Metro stop will eventually open in 2018 or early 2019. While the Silver Line stop is called Reston Town Center, it actually will be located in the center of the Dulles Access Road just west of Reston Parkway.
That means pedestrians will have to walk about a quarter-mile from the station to the town center. Now they can walk through RTC West — or have a destination such as Cooper’s Hawk or other restaurants and shopping — closer to public transportation.
JBG had to agree to make transportation and pedestrian improvements, so look for walkways and crosswalks to be added to the the W & OD Trail and Town Center Parkway entrances of the development.
See the entire Fairfax County Planning Commission staff report on project on the Fairfax County Planning website.
The Fairfax County Department of Planning and Zoning has completed the draft of the Reston Comprehensive Plan Amendment that will guide future development in Reston’s neighborhoods, village centers and open spaces.
Working under the quicker Fairfax Forward process, the plan — also referred to as Reston Master Plan Phase 2 — was organized in 10 months. Phase 1, approved by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors in 2014, took nearly four years.
“Staff has collaborated with community stakeholders, incorporated community ideas, and drafted a proposed amendment to the Reston section of the Fairfax County Comprehensive Plan based on these collaboration and engagement activities,” said Richard Lambert of the county planning and zoning office.
“Admittedly, not everything everyone wanted made its way into the proposed amendment. Staff had to meet some groups down the middle. This is the needle we thread. We are hopeful that the majority of people will be pleased with the majority, if not all, of the proposed amendment.”
There will be a Planning Commission public hearing on April 22 at 8:15 p.m. and, if recommended for approval, the Board of Supervisors will hold a public hearing and vote on June 2 at 4 p.m. Both hearings will be at the Fairfax County Government Center.
Fairfax County officials say the the current comprehensive plan, last updated in 1989, requires revision because Reston no longer has a master developer to update the plan for Reston; the plan for Reston has outdated elements; and with population expected to grow with the arrival of Metro, Reston is evolving as a community.
Phase I of the Reston Master Plan changes looked at how development and density should proceed in the areas surrounding transit stations such as Metro’s Wiehle Reston East.
Here are some of the highlights for Phase 2:
Village Centers — The amendment establishes general vision and guidelines for redevelopment for any future village center redevelopment proposals. The general vision for Reston’s village centers addresses elements necessary for village centers to achieve the desired goal of becoming a vibrant community gathering space. The Guidelines for Redevelopment establish a process for developing detailed plans and considering redevelopment proposals. Read More
Pulte Home Corp. has filed an application with Fairfax County to replace an office building at 1825 Michael Faraday Dr. in Reston with multi-family housing in walking distance to the Wiehle-Reston East Metro Station.
Pulte intends to build 42 stacked “two-over-two” townhome-style residences on the site, which is less than a quarter mile from Wiehle-Reston East.
The Michael Faraday location is surrounded by other office buildings, but is just past the office building at 1831 Wiehle Ave., where developer JBG is seeking to rezone an office building and construct 504 multifamily residential units and up to 61,000 square feet of retail.
Also nearby, the 540-unit BLVD Apartments are nearly completed, and Bozzuto is planning to build 421 apartments in the 11400 block of Sunset Hills Road, where a mini-storage facility now sits across the street from Wiehle-Reston East.
The Pulte project would need to rezone the 1.58-acre parcel from the I-4, Medium Intensity Industrial to R-30 residential district. As part of the rezoning, Pulte is asking to modify the minimum R-30 district size from three to 1.58 acres to allow the “infill” project.
Pulte is also asking for waivers on the minimum front and side yard sizes (from 20 to 10 feet) and the amount of open space (from 40 percent to 23 percent).
The existing 11,000-square foot, one-story building has been owned by the Hardwood, Plywood & Veneer Association since 1976. Pulte would have to own the property before rezoning, and likely has a contract to buy conditional on the rezoning, commercial real estate sources said.
“The proposed development will replace a single-story office building with attractive and high-quality facades, enhance the mix of uses desired near the Wiehle Avenue East Metro Station, and facilitate the planned grid of streets for the Transit Station Area,” states the Pulte’s rezoning document.
Pulte’s plan includes residences that will be “distributed in two rows oriented east-west to align with the future grid of streets, with a central private street to provide access to the rear of the units.”
The plan will take advantage of additional pedestrian and vehicular access on new streets planned for the surrounding area. It also calls for eight-foot wide sidewalks and a pocket park in the northeast corner of the site.
Pulte says that because the other new construction planned for Wiehle-Reston East is high-rise buildings, offering townhomes will serve a broader segment of housing needs.
Photo: 1825 Michael Faraday Dr. in Reston is currently an office building.
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.
JBG’s RTC West project was approved by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, clearing the way for 40,000 square feet of retail and dining close to the future Reston Town Center Metro station.
The public hearing portion of the supervisors meeting had no speakers and the project was unanimously approved.
The planning commission recommended the project for approval in late February. There was no significant opposition, but the developer had to agree to many conditions, mostly to add traffic and pedestrian access.
A January county staff report also recommended approval for RTC West, provided transportation conditions were met.
The 13-acre site currently houses three office buildings. Much of the development will convert the first two floors of the office buildings.
JBG says it plans to convert 15,100 square feet of office space to retail/restaurant space and add 25,000 square feet of new retail/restaurant space (on the southwest corner of the site), including outdoor seating.
The area is bordered by the W & OD Trail on the side of Reston Town Center, Town Center Parkway, Sunset Hills Road and the complex that currently houses Chipotle, Potbelly, Chick-fil-A, Carrabba’s and Extended Stay America.
Some of the transportation conditions include adding walkways and crosswalks to the W & OD Trail and Town Center Parkway and moving access to the office park about 440 feet north of the Parkway’s Intersection with Sunset Hills Road.
See the entire staff report on the Fairfax County Planning website.
Atlantic Realty Companies (ARC) of Tysons Corner and Angelo, Gordon & Co. (AG) of New York City have teamed up to acquire four office buildings totaling 499,696 square feet in Reston.
The purchase of Reston Corner I, II and III and the nearby Parkridge V cost about $82 million, says an Atlantic Realty spokesman. The buildings are 50 percent leased, and Reston Association is a major tenant in one of them.
The buildings comprise an office park located at the corner of Sunrise Valley Drive and Reston Parkway. Parkridge V is one of six office buildings in the Parkridge office park, near the Dulles Toll Road on Sunrise Valley Drive.
“Atlantic Realty has deep roots in Reston, having developed such well-known destinations as Plaza America,” said Atlantic Realty President David Ross said in a statement. “In fact, in 1992-93, our newly formed company was located in Reston Corner III. We are pleased to join with Angelo, Gordon to expand our Reston portfolio at this exciting time.”
Nearly $5 million was invested recently in improvements to the buildings’ elevators, lighting systems, restrooms, and the mechanical, electrical, and fire/ life safety systems. The ARC-AG partnership plans to spend an additional $5 million to improve the buildings and outdoor common areas.
The buildings were sold by an affiliate of the Garrison Group, which acquired them in 2011 after previous owner Penzance Cos., which paid $202.5 million in 2007, defaulted on payments on its more than $100 million loan.
The buildings are out of walking distance to the Wiehle-Reston East Metro station, however, they will be a short walk to the Reston Town Center station when the Silver Line is extended after 2018.
This sale is third major commercial real estate deal in Reston in recent months, perhaps proving its desirability as an office location now that it is Metro-accessible.
Federal contractor Noblis in January leased more than 160,000 square feet on Edmund Halley Drive near the Dulles Toll Road. Last week, Fannie Mae announced it would lease all 185,000 square feet of a building at 12000 Sunrise Valley Dr.
Bechtel, which has it global operations headquarters at 12011 Sunset Hills Rd., announced earlier this month it plans to lease another 175,000 square feet of office space as it relocates hundreds more employees to Reston.
Photo: Reston Corner II/Courtesy Atlantic Realty
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors gave final approval on Tuesday to Lake Anne Development Partners’ project to revitalize Crescent Apartments and the Lake Anne area.
“Lake Anne redevelopment has been a very long long process,” Hunter Mill Supervisor Cathy Hudgins said when introducing the motions for decision at the board’s meeting. “I am pleased today to reach a conclusion.”
The public hearing portion of the meeting was held Feb. 17.
The final approval sets the stage for Lake Anne Development Partners to start the project, which they hope will add density and transform Reston’s oldest area.
Stacy Hornstein, senior vice president and director of acquisition and development for Republic Land Development, an LADP partner, said they hope to break ground in early 2016.
“Lake Anne Development Partners is very excited that the Board of Supervisors approved the plan for redevelopment of the Crescent Apartments and the revitalization Lake Anne,” said Hornstein. “A project of this magnitude requires the expertise and assistance of many county departments, individuals and our team members. It is through their diligent efforts that we have reached this first of many milestones to come.”
The project is slated to add more than 1,000 apartments and townhouses, mostly where the 181-unit, county owned Crescent Apartments stands today. LADP’s plan also calls for 78,000 square feet of office space and 58,000 square feet of retail space, a modest-sized grocery store and realignment of Village Road. The project will also have a 1.1-acre central park, an outdoor amphitheater, a bike share station and 12 public art works, according to the project’s county staff report.
The interior section of Lake Anne Plaza, Reston’s original village center, has historic designation and will not be altered. However, developers hope the increased density and revitalization of the surrounding area will draw retailers and people to the plaza. The entire project will take about a dozen years to complete. The project was recommended for approval earlier this year by the Fairfax County Planning Commission. Read More
After years of community discussion, a few months of tweaks to the plan and a snow delay, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors is finally set to approve Lake Anne Development Partners’ vision for Crescent Apartments and the Lake Anne Plaza area.
The Board of Supervisors will vote on several LADP-related items at its meeting on Tuesday. Approval will mean the massive overhaul — which is slated to add more than 1,000 residences to where the 181-unit, county owned Crescent Apartments stands today. The votes were deferred from the supervisors’ Feb. 17 meeting due to a snowstorm that day that may have prevented people from attending the public hearing.
LADP’s plan also calls for 78,000 square feet of office space and 58,000 square feet of retail space, a modest-sized grocery store and realignment of Village Road. The project will also have a 1.1-acre central park, an outdoor amphitheater, a bike share station and 12 public art works, according to the project’s county staff report.
The interior section of Lake Anne Plaza, Reston’s original village center, has historic designation and will not be altered. However, developers hope the increased density and revitalization of the surrounding area will draw retailers and people to the plaza.
The project was recommended for approval earlier this year by the Fairfax County Planning Commission. The Board of Supervisors held public hearings on the project last month, where they were reminded to remember the residents of Crescent who count on affordable housing.
As part of its agreement with the county, Lake Anne Development Partners must provide 185 replacement affordable apartments and designate 20 percent of the other units as affordable and workforce housing.
LADP was chosen by the county in 2013 to redevelop the aging Crescent Apartments, which was purchased by the county for $49.5 million in 2006 for use as affordable housing.
Among the specifics the supervisors will be voting on at Tuesday’s meeting:
A reduction in parking. LADP requested to reduce by nearly 500 (18 percent) the number of parking spots in the Crescent area.
LADP says Crescent redevelopment is being planned in a more urban style, so it should not have to meet suburban standards and that the project has proffered a comprehensive transportation plan with specific goals and strategies targeted to reduce auto ownership among future residents as well as reducing parking supply. The project has proffered an overall 25-percent trip reduction goal for the resident and office users, which corresponds to a strategy that reduces the parking supply, acccording to county documents.
There will still be 2,167 total spaces when the project is fully developed, says LADP. That includes hundreds of garage spaces for Crescent residents and a 120-space parking garage to be built on a parcel of land adjacent to the current Lake Anne Plaza. That land, formerly owned by Reston Association, was the subject of a controversial land swap in late 2o13.
Land issues. The Supervisors will vote on the agreement for the 99-year ground lease by the county of the site for the replacement affordable units; the conveyance of the remaining approximately 1.2 acre portion of County owned land to Reston Association, who will in turn convey approximately 1.04 acres of adjacent land to LADP to facilitate the project (this is the final ruling on the 2013 land swap). Read more specifics in the Supervisors Agenda Package.
Earlier this year, LADP met county development conditions by agreeing to increase its contribution to the Fairfax County Park Authority from $100,000 to $500,000.
Renderings courtesy of LADP
The Fairfax County Planning Commission voted on Wednesday to recommend JBG’s RTC West project for approval. RTC West will bring 40,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space to what is currently an office park off of Sunset Hills Road close to the future Reston Town Center Metro station.
The planning commission held a public hearing on the project three weeks ago, but deferred decision. There was no significant opposition, but the developer had to agree to many conditions, mostly to add traffic and pedestrian access.
There may be more development at the site years down the road, however.
“This is what I call an ‘interim development’ of this site,” said Frank de la Fe, the planning commission’s Hunter Mill representative. “In the future, I am sure we will be seeing [the location] with new redevelopment under the new [Reston] Master Plan.”
“This makes sure what is being done in the interim meets current needs in marketplace without negatively affecting what we envision in master plan for this site,” said de le Fe.
A January county staff report recommended approval for RTC West, provided transportation conditions were met.
The 13-acre site currently houses three office buildings. Much of the development will convert the first two floors of the office buildings.
JBG’s says it plans to convert 15,100 square feet of office space to retail/restaurant space and add 25,000 square feet of new retail/restaurant space (on the southwest corner of the site). The planning commission approved outdoor restaurant seating for the complex.
The area is bordered by the W & OD Trail on the side of Reston Town Center, Town Center Parkway, Sunset Hills Road and the complex that currently houses Chipotle, Potbelly, Chick-fil-A, Carrabba’s and Extended Stay America.
“The development vision includes the upgrade of the first one or two floors within the office buildings to be more suitable to retail uses, and extensions of the retail program in specific areas of the site,” says JBG materials included in the staff report.
Some of the transportation conditions:
Connecting an existing walkway to the adjacent trails along the public roadways and adding two new crosswalks across Town Center Parkway.
Connecting the development to the W & OD trail, which runs on the northern part of the property. One development condition for JBG is working with the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority (NVRPA) and Dominion Virginia Power to establish an easement for a pedestrian connection between the site and the W&OD trail.
Closing the existing exit-only driveway on Town Center Parkway and to construct new signalized access point about 440 feet north of the intersection at Sunset Hills Road. Constructing an entrance in this location will require the relocation or closure of an existing entrance for the property across Town Center Parkway to avoid an unsafe intersection, JBG says. JBG will have to work out an agreement with Boston Properties, which owns that parcel, as a condition of development.
Two new crosswalks across Town Center Parkway at a new access point.
A new turning lane on Reston Parkway.
The project now moves on to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors for final approval.
See the entire staff report on the Fairfax County Planning website.
Photo: Rendering of RTC West/Credit: JBG
Update, Wednesday, 1:25 p.m.: The Wednesday, Feb 18 meeting has been canceled due to weather. Reston Now will apprise of the rescheduled vote date.
The Fairfax County Planning Commission will revisit and take action on Wednesday regarding the new retail and restaurant destination at Sunset Hills Road and Town Center Parkway known as RTC West
There was a public hearing held on the new development two weeks ago. The planning commission then deferred action on the plan for RTC West until Feb. 18, mostly to give time for transportation improvements to be formalized.
A staff report recommends approval, provided transportation improvements are met.
Developer JBG Companies is seeking a special exception from the planning commission in order to add retail, restaurant and food stores to the 13-acre site that currently houses three office buildings. Much of the development will convert the first two floors of the office buildings into restaurant and retail space.
JBG’s application says it plans to convert 15,100 square feet of office space to retail/restaurant space and add 25,000 square feet of new retail/restaurant space (on the southwest corner of the site) within an existing office campus on three parcels.
Some of the transportation logistics that need to be worked out:
Connecting an existing walkway to the adjacent trails along the public roadways and adding two new crosswalks across Town Center Parkway.
Connecting the development to the W & OD trail, which runs on the northern part of the property. One development condition for JBG is working with the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority (NVRPA) and Dominion Virginia Power to establish an easement for a pedestrian connection between the site and the W&OD trail.
Closing the existing exit-only driveway on Town Center Parkway and to construct new signalized access point about 440 feet north of the intersection at Sunset Hills Road. Constructing an entrance in this location will require the relocation or closure of an existing entrance for the property across Town Center Parkway to avoid an unsafe intersection, JBG says. JBG will have to work out an agreement with Boston Properties, which owns that parcel, as a condition of development.
Two new crosswalks across Town Center Parkway at a new access point.
A new turning lane on Reston Parkway.
See the entire staff report on the Fairfax County Planning website.
The planning commission meets at 8:15 p.m. at the Fairfax County Government Center.
Now that the new Fairfax County North County Government Center is getting ready to open on Cameron Glen Drive, the county is taking initial steps to start the process for a new Reston Regional Library as part of the makeover of Town Center North.
Tentative plans for a new library in Reston have been in place since 2012, when voters approved a $25 million library bond, with $10 million of it allocated for a new Reston Regional Library.
The remaining money will fund renovations at Pohick Regional, John Marshall Community and Tysons Pimmit Regional libraries.
A new library plan is set to proceed despite a tumultuous last few years for the county library system. Critics have pointed out that the Fairfax system spends less per capita than any other surrounding jurisdiction; has been caught discarding books rather than recirculating them; slashed its budget; and nearly went ahead with a “beta plan” at Reston Regional and Burke libraries that would have cut staff and resources.
In the County Executive’s FY 2016 Advertised Budget, announced on Tuesday, Fairfax County Public Libraries will receive $27,612,745 — about 7.7 percent less than in 2015.
A new plan is still in the works, though. Reston Citizens Association group Reston 2020 recently obtained the timeline for the process. Some of the details:
The new library was included in the Comprehensive Plan Amendment that was approved by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors in 2014.
The county is expected to rebuild the library and the Embry Rucker Community Shelter on its current 6-acre site on Bowman Towne Drive, called “Blocks 7 and 8” in county documents.
The county is expected to issue a Request for Proposals from companies interested in developing the new library. The RFP will go through June 2015.
The county is expected to select a developer in September 2015.
Proposals will be for the library and shelter, as well as “additional county uses,” according to the documents.
The RFP will also determine “highest and best use of the land,” in keeping with the Reston Master Plan and construction costs, among other details.
The project will then go through a rezoning, as well as approval process by the county planning commission and board of supervisors.
Last week, a land deal was announced that will allow the Fairfax County Park Authority build a 90,000-square-foot recreation facility at Reston Town Center North, pending public hearings, a park authority board vote and procurance of millions of dollars for construction.
Part of the deal also includes a 2.6-acre Town Greene to be built on the same block as the new North County Government Center on Fountain Drive.
The Reston comprehensive plan amendment says the Town Center North area is “planned for up to a .90 FAR for non-residential uses, which should include office, public, institutional, medical care, hotel, and retail uses, and a minimum of 1,000 residential units. The public uses may include public safety uses, libraries, shelters, schools, a recreation center, government offices, a performing arts center, and institutions of higher education.”
Three public hearings and a decision related to the Lake Anne-area revitalization project are on the docket for the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday.
The board will decide on a request for a parking reduction for the project. Two weeks ago, Lake Anne Development Partners requested to reduce by nearly 500 the number of parking spots that will be available in the area after the massive redevelopment of Crescent Apartments and the surrounding area is completed.
Some of LADP’s reasons for the reduction:
- The county has parking standards for suburban development, but since the Crescent redevelopment is being planned in a more urban style, the developers have asked for the reduction.
- A reduction in parking will have a positive impact on traffic levels and walkability, among other reasons. Some of the reasons, according to county documents:
- The project has proffered a comprehensive transportation plan with specific goals and strategies targeted to reduce auto‐ownership among future residents as well as reducing parking supply.
- The project has proffered an overall 25-percent trip reduction goal for the resident and office users, which corresponds to a strategy that reduces the parking supply.
- Managing parking by reducing supply helps to reduce the undesirable impacts of parking demand on local and regional traffic levels and the resulting impacts on community livability.
- The project seeks to promote a vibrant community where people can live, play and work providing opportunities to limit auto‐ownership among residents; single occupancy vehicle trips.
- This site is served by existing established Fairfax Connector and RIBs bus routes along North Shore Drive.
- The site is located entirely within 1.65 miles of the Wiehle‐Reston East Silver Line Metro station providing a mass transit commuter option in the nearby proximity.
- Most importantly, the project has proffered a comprehensive TDM and Parking Management Plan that will monitor and measure the project’s traffic and parking reduction goals. If the parking reductions are not achieved in the East Side, a plan to provide additional spaces has been proffered.
It has been requested that 477 fewer parking spaces serve the project. That is a parking reduction of 18 percent. The County Executive recommends that the Board approve the 18 percent parking reduction. The county also says parking should include at least 1,031 parking spaces on the west side of the development and a minimum of 1,136 parking spaces on the east side for a total of 2,167 total spaces when the project is fully developed.
When it is completed, the project will have 1,037 new residential units (including replacement of the 181 affordable units at Crescent); 60,000 square feet of retail; a 15,800-square-foot grocery store; and 78,000 square feet of office space. Read More
When D.C.-based developer Akridge announced on Monday that it had teamed with RTC Partnership LLC to construct what will be Reston’s tallest building, it brought a somewhat dormant project back in to the spotlight.
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved the $210 million project back in Sept. 2012. The 330-foot tall tower will replace an aging five-story office tower at 1760 Reston Parkway.
“This will stand as a stark example of what world-class design is called for in the principles of Reston,” Hunter Mill Supervisor Cathy Hudgins said at the September 2012 BOS hearing. “We will not have to remain in the sameness of heights and density as a measure of world-class design.”
The journey to approval of the tower — which will hold 420,000-square-feet of office space at Reston Parkway and Bowman Towne Drive — was not without controversy.
Opponents of the project were concerned about the scale of the building, calling it “incompatible with Reston. Also of concern was additional traffic as the building, which will contain a parking garage, will be nearly one mile from the Reston Town Center Metro station, which is scheduled to open in late 2018.
Critics of the project included Reston Association and the Fairfax County Planning Commission staff, which said the building was out of scale with its surroundings.
The building was approved by the supervisors anyway. The current building was zoned Planned Residential Community in 1978 and is under no height restrictions. The proposed density of 4.08 Floor-Area Ratio on the 2.36-acre property is actually less than several surrounding buildings or proposed buildings, representatives for RTC Partnership pointed out at the time.
The project was recently mentioned at last month’s Board of Zoning Appeals hearing on whether Reston National Golf Course could be considered residential. The building was mentioned as one that was approved by the Board of Supervisors contrary to the staff report.
The proposed height of the building makes it 125 feet taller than Reston’s tallest building, One Freedom Square.
However, with a high-density project coming at The Spectrum, which surrounds 1760 Reston Parkway, as well as the new, 14-story residential towers at The Harrison nearly ready to open across the street, the building will not be such a contrast eventually.
The building will feature a large rooftop plaza, grand lobby, floor-to-ceiling glass, panoramic views from the Blue Ridge mountains to D.C., 9.5-foot ceilings, five levels of screened parking above street level, ground-floor retail and roughly 18 floors of office space.
Reston founder Robert E. Simon, who has long been a proponent of higher density in Reston, called the project “a perfect location” back in 2012.
“The question is ‘is this is good location?'” said Simon. “It is a perfect location. Town Center starts at and goes to This building will be right in the center and will be appropriate.”
No start date has been set. The Washington Business Journal reports that the building is seeking an anchor tenant to prelease at least 150,000 square feet before proceeding with construction.
Photo: Rendering of planned 23-story tower/Credit: RTC Partnership
