Nearly 100 Tall Oaks-area residents answered a recent survey on the future of their village center, saying they want more than 10,000 square feet of retail, among other tweaks to what is being planned for the ailing village center.
In July, the grassroots Concerned Citizens of Tall Oaks asked neighbors to look at “Citizen Options” compared to the latest concept from The Jefferson Apartment Group (JAG).
JAG, which purchased Tall Oaks late last year, wants to build 150 residential units and up to 7,000 square foot of retail on the site of the nearly empty 70,000-square-foot village center at Wiehle Avenue and North Shore Drive.
Sixty respondents to the citizen survey said they liked “Citizen Option 1,” which adds retail up to 10,000 square feet and opened up space in front of Tall Oaks Assisted Living. Thirty-three responses were in favor of Citizen Option 2, which also added up to 10,000 square feet of retail, as well as more parking.
Overall, 83 percent of respondents chose a citizen option over JAG’s option, says group rep Sherri Hebert, the president of the Bentana Woods Cluster Association.
“Although not a scientific research study, the results further validate the thoughts and concerns of the residents of Reston,” says the group’s report.
Hebert has also written a letter to county officials outlining the citizens’ furstration.
“Developing this land into a gem of Reston and a model for other village centers is critically important to Reston’s future,” she said. “To create another housing cluster would set the wheels in motion to dissolve the uniqueness of Reston and its village centers, increase traffic and decrease the character of the neighborhood and lower the quality of life of the residents. All of these factors would ultimately lead to a city without personality or distinction and lower property values. “
The group’s main conclusions:
- Require a minimum of 10,000 square feet of retail. The retail that is currently operating successfully at Tall Oaks, to include Paisanos, Paradise Nails, Fur Factory, Pho 75, Vocelli, Kumon Learning, and Tall Oaks Veterinarian easily fill the square footage. They have expressed interest to stay and have been successful for years in the village center.
- Require community green space/meeting space in a village or plaza-like setting.
- Require adequate parking so overflow parking isn’t along North Shore or it becomes impossible for customers to park for the retail services.
- Require a traffic study and feasibility of an exit onto Wiehle westbound.
- Require design of housing and retail building fit into the community and the Reston nature feel.
- Push for LEED certifications, green roofs, reuse of rain water, etc.
- Consider building above retail if needed.
- Require plaza/village space, multi-generational gathering space.
JAG has not yet submitted any formal permits or plans for Tall Oaks. After an April meeting where the concept was not well received, it did make changes to double the retail space (from 3,500 to 7,000 square feet) and add open space.
“We don’t know if Jefferson Apartment Group is open to changes, but we need to have our desires known and data can speak louder than words,” says the citizens group.
See a final report from the citizens below.
Reston Association’s Board of Directors has sent a letter to county officials saying that the new plan for Tall Oaks Village Center “falls woefully short of meeting even minimum standards sought for a village center.”
The Jefferson Apartment Group (JAG) purchased the aging village center in December and plans to redevelop the space — which is only 16 percent occupied — into a variety of housing with a small amount of retail.
JAG has not filed any permits or plans for the redevelopment, which will not need rezoning under new Reston Master Plan rules.
The company has held three community meetings. In the first two last April, the plans were not well received by community members, who said if proper management was in place, retail would thrive.
At the most recent meeting, in June, JAG officials came back with an amended plan featuring 150 rather than 154 homes (a variety of townhomes, 2-over-2 townhouses and condos), about 7,000 square feet (up from 3,000 SF) of retail and additional open space.
But the lack of a community gathering space and open space remains an issue for Reston Association, RA President Ellen Graves said in an Aug. 6 letter to Hunter Mill Supervisor Cathy Hudgins and Planning Commission member Frank de la Fe.
RA says JAG should follow Urban Land Institute guidelines for the importance of public plazas in planning for the new Tall Oaks.
Those guidelines state a successful public realm is one where “commerce, social interaction, leisure time activities may mix easily in an attractive, pedestrian-friendly outdoor setting. … The public realm should allow for the integration of the people, the place and the larger community.”
Says RA: “The current Jefferson Apartment Group redevelopment plan does none of the above. In all its iterations, the plan falls woefully short of meeting even minimum standards sought for a Village Center in Reston. The existing elderly housing residents [at Tall Oaks Assisted Living] should be supported in the Village Center’s design, amenities and uses. An amount and mix of commercial uses sufficient to serve the surrounding neighbors should remain.”
See the entire letter below.
RA Letter Re:Tall Oaks by Karen Goldberg Goff
Photo: Rendering of redeveloped Tall Oaks/Credit: JAG
A group of Reston citizens is soliciting feedback on planned development at Tall Oaks Village Center — as well as additional suggestions it has organized — to make principals aware of their concerns about the new plan for the aging center.
Jefferson Apartment Group (JAG) bought the mostly empty 70,000-square-foot retail center in December 2014. JAG has held three meetings with residents since April, where it showed initial conceptual plans for 154 residences and a small amount of retail.
At the first two meetings, some residents were visibly upset at the residential plans and said the center had been mismanaged — but if good management came in, retail would stay. JAG representatives disagreed, saying there is stiff competition from other nearby shopping centers and little interest in Tall Oaks from retailers.
At a meeting in late June, JAG and Fairfax County Planning staff presented a new plan that offered a slight reduction in the number of townhomes and double the amount of planned retail space (for a total of about 7,000 square feet of shopping/restaurants).
Citizens at the June meeting were organized into focus group tables, where they offered feedback on the new plans. The consensus: the small groups generally liked the diversity of housing (including two garden-style condo buildings, four clusters of 2-over-2 townhouse condos and 100 townhomes), the addition of more retail and the move towards community space.
The residents in attendance also requested even more stores and a more cohesive community open space, as well as another exit to Wiehle Avenue and more integrated space with the existing Tall Oaks Assisted Living building.
The citizens group is driving that message home and asking other citizens to chime in on a short survey.
The group has taken JAG’s plans and amended them with “citizen options,” sketching out additional green space, more integration with Tall Oaks Assisted Living, and more retail. The group has even designated what the retail should be, such as “pizza,” “Pho,” ‘dry cleaners,” and “dog groomers,” which are current Tall Oaks’ tenants, as well as “grocery/deli” and “sit down restaurant.”
Says the citizens group:
We are gathering data to present to Cathy Hudgins, the Reston Planning and Zoning Committee as well as the [Reston Association] Design Review Board regarding our desires for Tall Oaks.
The consistent theme from the community meetings has been: ample retail/services needs to be provided, green space, inclusion of the Assisted Living Facility, and parking.
We have put together two options that address these concerns. We would like the retail to stand out with a different hardscape distinguishing the Village Center from the residential areas.
We don’t know if Jefferson Apartment Group (owners of the seven-acre property) is open to changes, but WE NEED TO HAVE OUR DESIRES KNOWN and DATA can speak louder than words.
JAG representatives say the redevelopment is still in the planning stages. The company has not applied for a zoning change or filed any other official documents.
Photo: Rendering of Tall Oaks redevelopment/Credit: JAG
The owners of Tall Oaks Village Center have slightly tweaked the proposed redevelopment plan to turn the ailing shopping center into a mainly residential neighborhood, but citizens would still like to see more changes.
Duncan Jones of Tall Oaks’ owner, The Jefferson Apartment Group, showed changes at a community meeting on Monday that included four fewer townhouses, a doubling of the retail space from 3,500 square feet to 7,000 square feet, and an addition of more common area.
The standing room-only crowd seemed to look ahead this time around. At two meetings in April, many community members disliked the residential plan and insisted residents would support retail if Tall Oaks were managed correctly.
At Monday’s meeting, which broke up into roundtable focus groups, attendees were asked to take a critical look at JAG’s plans. JAG purchased Tall Oaks for $14 million late last year.
The consensus: the small groups generally liked the diversity of housing (including two garden-style condo buildings, four clusters of 2-over-2 townhouse condos and 100 townhomes), the addition of more retail and the move towards community space.
They also requested even more stores and a more cohesive community open space, as well as another exit to Wiehle Avenue and more integrated space with the existing Tall Oaks Assisted Living building.
“I would like to see more retail,” said longtime resident Dick Rogers, a former board member of the Reston Citizens Association. “It’s an improvement [over what was presented in April], but they can go a little farther in my view.”
Citizens were asked to rank amenities in order of importance, including trees and open space, a dog park, trails and walking paths, public art, playgrounds and variety of retail shops.
County planning officials and JAG will tabulate results and consider them, along with the feedback summary from Monday’s meeting.
Hunter Mill Supervisor Cathy Hudgins, who lives close to Tall Oaks, said she sympathizes with neighbors about the potential loss of their village center as they have known it for the last 41 years.
“Many of us remember Tall Oaks when it was a vibrant center and people supported it,” she said. “But for eight years, no matter what we have tried [has not worked]. The point is to bring some vibrancy back to Tall Oaks.”
Jones said the 70,000-square-foot center — of which only about 13,000 square feet is occupied — faces extreme competition from neighboring existing and future retail centers. Retail centers at North Point, the Spectrum, Reston Town Center and Plaza America, all built after 1990, have contributed to the demise of Tall Oaks, he said.
“There are competitive locations that are sucking your dollars away from this center,” Jones said of nearby Harris Teeter, Giant, Whole Foods and other big retail stores.
The Tall Oaks anchor space vacated by Giant in 2007 (and later two international groceries that each lasted just two years) is just 35,000 square feet, which is too small for most modern grocery stores, he added.
He said the planned retail — which could also be further expanded by adding ground-floor stores to an existing office building — would most likely be small stores, with an outreach to existing tenants such as Paradise Nails, Mama Wok, Fur Factory pet grooming and others.
“It would most likely be limited to what we see today,” he said. “Food and delivery supported by a loyal base.
Photo: Reworked concept for Tall Oaks/Courtesy JAG
This is an op-ed by Reston resident Bill Woloch. It does not reflect Reston Now’s opinion.
Reston founder Robert Simon envisioned Reston as being a place where people could walk to work and shopping, walk to recreation and nature without using a car. He designed a number of Village Centers that were actually within walking distance of most of the residents homes in Reston.
One of those Village Centers is located at the corner of Wiehle Avenue and North Shore Drive. It is called the Tall Oaks Village Center. It has been in disrepair for a number of years, a decade, and no one in Reston cared. It was sold a few times, most recently to another developer.
Village Centers are more than just shopping and retail. They are gathering places for people who see each other occasionally from nearby neighborhoods. Where parents and kids could easily walk after hitting the RA pool and maybe have a coke or ice cream. Where dog walkers could sit and chat.
Architecturally, Village Centers made people feel like they could stop by no reason other than to hang out a while, with inviting open spaces, sitting areas (covered) and up till now, maybe a county or RA office or branch library.
The developer’s current plans allow for none of these. Worse yet, I believe the Reston Association and Fairfax County don’t seem to think it is important. Actions speak louder than words.
Who is responsible for ensuring the principles of Robert Simon’s vision and association bylaws are adhered to? Not an easy answer. There is the Fairfax County Planning Commission, the Reston Association (RA) Board of Directors, along with the RA Planning and Zoning Committee and the RA Design Review Board. That’s a lot of oversight. So what have they been doing during the last 10 years of the Tall Oaks Village Center’s decline? Ask them yourself. Send an email. Read More
Interested in what Tall Oaks Village Center’s owners have planned in redevelopment of the site? Then attend Monday’s community meeting at Reston Community Center Lake Anne.
Jefferson Apartment Group (JAG), which purchased Tall Oaks in December for $14 million, will present a revised look at plans for the space at 7 p.m. Monday.
At two community meetings in April, JAGÂ showed plans to replace the increasingly vacant shopping center with 154 residential units (townhomes and condos) and a small amount of retail.
The proposal was not well received by Tall Oaks-area residents, man of whom would prefer the village center be preserved as a retail center, including a grocery store anchor. There is an online petition asking JAG to keep Tall Oaks retail.
Other residents at the April meetings said residential might be a good plan, but would prefer more open and community space than JAG has planned for the site.
The 25,000-square-foot grocery store space — formerly a Giant and then two different international groceries — has been vacant for nearly five years.
Land use attorney Mark Looney said Tall Oaks, which had a nearly 90-percent occupancy rate in 2007 and currently has a 13-percent occupancy rate, will be 6 percent occupied by early 2016. Competition from other nearby retail centers and grocery stores is one of the main factors in Tall Oaks’ demise, he said at the previous meetings.
Meanwhile, Reston Master Plan Phase 2, recently approved by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, says developers do not have to get a Comprehensive Plan Amendment in order to redevelop Tall Oaks as residential.
Map of new Tall Oaks residential neighborhood (April concept)/Courtesy Jefferson Apartment Group
Tall Oaks Village Center owners Jefferson Apartment Group (JAG) will present a revised look at plans for the space on June 22.
JAG, along with Fairfax County Supervisor Cathy Hudgins, is hosting and open house at 7 p.m. at Reston Community Center at Lake Anne, 1609-A Washington Plaza.
JAG, which purchased Tall Oaks for $14 million last December, held two community meetings in Reston in April. Representatives showed plans to replace the increasingly vacant shopping center with 154 residential units (townhomes and condos) and a small amount of retail.
The proposal was not well received by Tall Oaks-area residents, who would prefer the village center be preserved as a retail center, including a grocery store anchor. There is an online petition asking JAG to keep Tall Oaks retail.
The 25,000-square-foot grocery store space — formerly a Giant and then two different international groceries — has been vacant for nearly five years.
Land use attorney Mark Looney said at the previous meetings that there was almost no interest in Tall Oaks among retailers.
Looney predicts Tall Oaks, which had a nearly 90-percent occupancy rate in 2007 and currently has a 13-percent occupancy rate, will be 6 percent occupied by early 2016.
Meanwhile, Reston Master Plan Phase 2, recently approved by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, says developers do not have to get a Comprehensive Plan Amendment in order to redevelop Tall Oaks as residential.
Rendering of new Tall Oaks residences/Courtesy Jefferson Apartment Group
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved changes to the Reston Master Plan on Tuesday. The changes will help guide growth at Reston’s village centers and neighborhoods going forward.
One of the new rules: Reston’s village centers will not have to get a comprehensive plan amendment should they want to drastically change.
When founder Bob Simon envisioned Reston in the 1960s, all the village centers were going to be like Lake Anne Village Center — high density (townhouses, apartments) housing, a plaza, central gathering place, walking access and parking on the perimeter.
But as Reston developed (Simon was no longer part of the project by the time the rest of the village centers were built), what was put in place was essentially strip mall shopping. Those plans deviated from the vision, but also provided convenience for residents who just wanted to park the car and easily grocery shop or pick up dry cleaning.
Other than a proposal for the ailing Tall Oaks Village Center and the plan for the area near, but not in, Lake Anne Plaza, there are no current plans to redevelop Reston’s village centers. So it is status quo for now — but what do you think should happen in the future? Stay the same or get back to the original plan? Take our poll and tell us in the comments.
Photo Courtesy North Point Village Center
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved changes to the Reston Master Plan that will provide guidelines for any changes to village centers and neighborhoods as Reston moves into its second 50 years.
The changes, commonly called Reston Master Plan Phase 2, ensure that future residential and commercial growth will be concentrated in the Town Center, the Transit Station Areas and the Village Centers; and the Vision and Planning Principles created in Phase 1 should apply to the whole of Reston.
Phase 1, which set standards for development close to transit centers at Wiehle-Reston East and Reston’s future Reston Parkway Metro Station, was approved by the county in early 2014.
Some of the vision and planning principles for both: that Reston place an emphasis on diversity of housing, affordability, walkability and the role plazas play as community gathering spaces.
Reston Association CEO Cate Fulkerson, one of a handful of speakers at the public hearing portion of  Tuesday’s meeting, requested that a sentence be added “Reston has always been a place where nature is valued and protected.”
“This summarizes the most important characteristic of Reston and needs to be incorporated,” she said.
Hunter Mill Supervisor Cathy Hudgins agreed, and suggested that it be added to a prominent place at the start of the final document.
Hudgins had some questions for county planning staff at the meeting. One of the questions centered on whether St. Johns Wood, the garden apartment complex owned by Bozzuto, can redevelop without a comprehensive plan amendment. Read More
Before the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors votes in June on the final changes to Phase 2 of Reston’s Master Plan, Reston Association’s Board of Directors wants to ensure that language is in place to allow Tall Oaks Village Center to undergo significant changes.
RA has a motion on its agenda for this week’s regular Board of Directors meeting whether to “reaffirm or change the Association’s original position requesting that the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors delete Tall Oaks Village Center from the list of Village Centers and added to the list of Convenience Centers thereby allowing it to be redeveloped to residential and convenience center uses.”
RA formally voted in February to change Tall Oaks to convenience center designation.
The 40-year-old village center has not been a vibrant retail center for several years and is only about 13 percent occupied. In December, Tall Oaks was sold to the Jefferson Apartment Group (JAG), which plans to redevelop the location as 154 condos and townhomes and about 8,500 square feet of retail.
Meanwhile, the latest draft of the Reston Master Plan Phase 2, which the Fairfax County Planning Commission recommended for approval in mid-May, suggests  removing of the requirement for Reston’s village centers to undergo comprehensive plan amendments in order to redevelop.
The draft also adds language for Tall Oaks to recognize that the redevelopment plan may include a significantly reduced non-residential component.
Other convenience centers in Reston include the former Reston Visitors Center that RA is seeking to purchase, the Soapstone convenience center, Sunrise Valley convenience center and the Home Depot shopping center.
A convenience center designation for Tall Oaks would make it easier for developers to proceed without having to preserve existing retail space. JAG representatives said at April community meetings that there was virtually no interest from retail tenants to move to the space as is now.
Many residents maintain that Tall Oaks could return to life if it had the right management. Some have started an online petition to maintain a balance of retail and residential at Tall Oaks.
Reston’s Master Plan moved another step closer to new guidelines for future development as the Fairfax County Planning Commission has voted to recommend changes to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors.
The vote came at the planning commission’s regular meeting on Wednesday. It held the public hearing portion of the changes — commonly called Reston Master Plan Phase 2 — in April.
Planning staff has been working on the Reston Master Plan Phase 2 since June 2014. Phase 2 changes deal with development in and near Reston’s village centers, as well as in neighborhoods, should they be redeveloped. Phase 1, approved by the Supervisors in early 2014, guides development in the areas close to Reston’s transit centers.
At the public hearing, the planning commission heard from citizens on concerns about a planned traffic interchange, changes at Tall Oaks Village Center and Reston’s future in general. It also heard from developers, who said guidelines in the plan text did not allow developers enough leeway.
Planning commission’s Hunter Mill representative Frank de le Fe said Wednesday that he supports the general draft, but made a few changes in recent weeks in response to public comments.
Among them:
Removal of the rule that Reston’s village centers would have to undergo a comprehensive plan amendment to promote redevelopment. This will help The Jefferson Apartment Group (JAG), which purchased the mostly-vacant Tall Oaks in December. JAG has preliminary plans for residential and small retail development on the site at Wiehle Avenue and North Shore Drive.
Addition of language that Tall Oaks may include a significant residential component and that any redevelopment will emphasize quality design.
Planned redevelopment at St. John’s Wood apartments will be considered.
De le Fe also suggested that a request for a special buffer at the long-lost cemetery at the Fairfax Hunt Club be treated as any other cemetery. De le Fe said adding specific language to the comprehensive plan, as citizens had suggested, “seemed like overkill.”
At the public hearing, many residents of the Polo Fields subdivision at Sunrise Valley Drive and the Fairfax County Parkway, expressed concern with a multi-lane interchange planned there.
“This suggested interchange will not significantly improve traffic issues and will cost as least as much as Fair Lakes interchange, which was $65 million,” resident John Eidson, said at the hearing. “If this interchange goes in, some of us may lose our homes. Where are our rights? and what gives you the right [to build this] without giving us a say in the matter?”
De le Fe said the Fairfax County Department of Transportation will re-examine and re-evaluate the interchange.
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.
The Board of Supervisors will discuss the comprehensive plan changes on June 2.
A group of Reston residents has started an online petition to demand that Tall Oaks Village Center remain a village center — and not a residential development.
The petition, posted by “Concerned Residents of Tall Oaks” is aimed at Hunter Mill Supervisor Cathy Hudgins and Reston Association CEO Cate Fulkerson.
“Tall Oaks community needs and deserves a Village Center with retail that we can walk to and green space where the community can gather,” the petition says. “A balance of residential and retail in a plaza-like setting would be a good compromise.”
Tall Oaks has been losing retail tenants at a fast clip the last several years. It is currently at 16 percent capacity, land use attorney Mark Looney said in a presentation to residents in April. In 2007, it was 92 percent occupied.
The village center was sold to McLean’s Jefferson Apartment Group in December. The company is in the early stages of envisioning what to do with the 40-year-center. Preliminary plans include 154 new homes in a combination of mid-rise condos and townhouses, as well as 8,500 square feet of retail.
The plans were presented to Tall Oaks-area residents at two meetings in April. They were not well received. Many residents said a retail center would be successful if it had the right management and that more residents will choke traffic on already slow Wiehle Avenue.
“Tall Oaks community needs and deserves a Village Center with retail that we can walk to and green space where the community can gather,” the petition says. “A balance of residential and retail in a plaza-like setting would be a good compromise.”
Changing the county zoning from commercial to residential may be more flexible under changes to the Reston Master Plan.
Many of those who signed the petition list their reasons why they want Tall Oaks to remain retail.
“Please represent the people of Reston instead of developers,” said one commenter.
Wrote another: “I grew up down the street from Tall Oaks and loved it when it had a Giant and a 7-Eleven. Being able to walk with my mom or ride my bike to the store to get something was awesome. My parents still live there and I pass Tall Oaks every day, and I’m sad because I remember what it used to be. Would love it if they could bring something similar back. Plus, when Robert E Simon designed Reston it was for a planned community where everyone is supposed to be within half a mile of a village center.”
Photos: Top, current empty spot at Tall Oaks; Bottom, Jefferson Apartment Group rendering of residential development.
The new owners of Tall Oaks Village Center will be back in Reston Monday for another presentation about potential plans for the nearly empty center at Wiehle Avenue and North Shore Drive.
Executives from The Jefferson Apartment Group, along with land use lawyer Mark Looney, spoke to a full house at an initial meeting at Reston Association headquarters on Thursday.
Monday’s meeting (7 p.m. at RA’s offices) is not expected to yield new information, but will be another chance for residents to see what JAG has in mind.
Thursday’s presentation was met with a high level of frustration by Tall Oaks-area residents and store owners, who blame the previous Tall Oaks Village Center owners for letting the 40-year-old retail center fall into disrepair while it continued to raise rents. That drove many tenants away in the last few years — with no new stores taking their place.
McLean-based JAG plans 154 residential units on the site — a mix of townhomes, “two over two” townhomes and condos in two-four story buildings. JAG also plans 8,500 square feet of retail, which would hopefully include loyal Tall Oaks tenants such as Mama Wok, Paradise Nails and others.
Many at Thursday’s meeting said more residential would burden traffic and asked that retail be given another chance at Tall Oaks.
Looney pointed out that retail has been declining at Tall Oaks for a decade. Giant Foods left the anchor spot in 2004. It was replaced by two different international grocery stores, each of which lasted fewer than two years.
There are also a half-dozen other grocery stores within a few miles, most of which were not open when Tall Oaks was thriving in the 1970s and 1980s, he said.
“When you start to compare existing retail at Tall Oaks to other new retail that is newer and more attractive, that’s when Tall Oaks began to struggle to compete,” he said.
The future may have been sealed when 7-Eleven left in 2008, he added.
“The notion of 7-Eleven not surviving is shocking,” said Looney. “7-Eleven is a very nimble business. If you can’t keep a 7-Eleven open, it says something.”
Looney predicts Tall Oaks, which had a nearly 90-percent occupancy rate in 2007 and currently has a 13-percent occupancy rate, will be 6 percent occupied by early 2016.
“The reality is, every anchor store knows this center and has passed it by,” said Looney, adding that there was no recent retail developer interest to purchase Tall Oaks.
JAG says that no site plan has been filed with Fairfax County and the Tall Oaks redevelopment plans are in the very early stages. JAG would also have to file a re-zoning application to build housing on the site of the shopping center.
Tall Oaks’ future was also a big point of discussion at last week’s public hearing on Reston Comprehensive Plan changes.
Rendering of new Tall Oaks Village Center site/Courtesy JAG
New Tall Oaks Village Center owners The Jefferson Apartment Group (JAG) envision 154 residential units on the nearly empty shopping center’s seven acres at Wiehle Avenue and North Shore Drive.
The residents just want their grocery store back.
That’s the message the room full of Tall Oaks residents tried to convey to JAG Executive Vice President Greg Lamb and Senior Vice President Jim Duncan and their attorney, Mark Looney of Cooley LLC, on Thursday.
JAG, which bought the 40-year-old village center in December for $14 million, came to Reston Association headquarters Thursday to show their preliminary plans for and get feedback on medium-density residential and a small amount of retail at Tall Oaks.
Here is what JAG envisions (though it admits this is just the earliest stages): 46 townhomes; 42 “2 over 2” townhomes; 66 condos in two four or five-story buildings; underground resident parking; an enhances trail network; and about 8,500 square feet of retail, with first dibs given to the remaining locally owned small businesses at Tall Oaks. Tall Oaks Assisted Living would remain, as would a small office building.
Here is what the residents essentially had to say: The development lacks recreational space; new residents will overwhelm the Tall Oaks pool; North Shore will be choked with traffic; and JAG needs both a more community-focused idea process and a better traffic study.
And just bring back a grocery store.
“You are selling yourself short short on retailers,” said one resident. “Tall Oaks could have survived without a grocery store if [previous landlord] was able to provide reasonable rent. Â They had grand ideas about making money, and that drove a lot of [the vacancies].”
Looney says that when Tall Oaks first opened the in mid-1970s, it could support a 25,000-square-foot Giant Foods because there were not that many options nearby.
Looney points out that Tall Oaks began its decline in the 1990s, after new retail at North Point, The Spectrum, Reston Town Center, Trader Joe’s and Plaza America all opened nearby.
After Giant left the center in 2007 — residents say it was a corporate decision on smaller stores and not from lack of use — followed by 7-Eleven in 2008, the vacancies began mounting.
“In part, it’s because of competition from other retailers,” said Looney. “But there are site challenges. There are mature [RA owned] trees blocking the center on North Shore. Many people don’t know it is there. There is only one way in and out on North Shore.”
Looney predicts Tall Oaks, which had a nearly 90-percent occupancy rate in 2007 and currently has a 13-percent occupancy rate, will be 6 percent occupied by early 2016.
“The reality is, every anchor store knows this center and has passed it by,” said Looney, adding that there was no recent retail developer interest to purchase Tall Oaks.
“We tested the market. Crickets. No one in retail wanted to buy it in its current condition. JAG stepped forward, They are keeping the retail component. They are taking a drab retail center and turning it into Reston’s next great cluster.”
Many residents — some of whom have lived nearby for 30-plus years — are not impressed.
Said one resident: “Brand new townhouses are going to make my townhouse look like garbage.”
Added resident Tammi Petrine:Â “People bought homes with the expectation this was going to be a retail area. We need a grocery store.”
Said Looney: “The lack of grocery at this location is not something in our abilities to solve. The market is going to dictate that no matter how much we try to wish it.”
JAG will be back at RA Monday at 7 p.m. for another community meeting.
Rendering of Tall Oaks residential courtesy of JAG
Tall Oaks Village Center could morph from a mostly vacant shopping plaza to a mixed-use residential and retail spot.
Reps from Tall Oaks’ new ownership, The Jefferson Apartment Group, will be at Reston Association headquarters, 12001 Sunrise Valley Dr., Thursday at 7 p.m. for a first look at what they have planned.
Tall Oaks Development Group, a division of the McLean-based Jefferson Group, 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 company was developed 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.
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.
Can’t make it tonight? The Jefferson Group will be back at RA on Monday to make another presentation.
Empty stores at Tall Oaks Village Center/file photo
