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[CNJRoss]

Fairfax County, VA news release:

 

Largest Mixed-Use Development Next to Wiehle-Reston East Metro Station Approved

Posted on December 8, 2016

 

 

 

As construction continues on the Silver Line’s second phase, the drive to redevelop the area around Reston’s only rail station that’s open now as part of phase one intensifies. The Board of Supervisors signed off on two separate projects near the Wiehle-Reston East station on Tuesday, Dec. 6.

 

Developer Vornado’s Commerce Metro Center will build about 1.1 million square feet in new mixed use development at the site of existing office park, while the Lincoln will be a seven-story apartment on an adjacent property.

 

Metro Commerce Center

This office park redevelopment is one of the last development opportunities directly adjacent to this Metro station. The Metro Commerce Center project will include the three six-story office buildings currently on the site, along with the parking garage. The surface parking lot will be demolished to make way for four new towers, including two residential towers, a new office and a 175-room hotel. The project includes 17,000 square feet in ground-floor retail in every building, with the exception of one residential tower.

 

The 11.5-acre property lies directly south of the station and Dulles Toll Road along Sunrise Valley Drive between Wiehle Avenue and Commerce Park Drive.

 

 

Metro Commerce Center will be built in four phases, and the final development plan for the first phase was also approved on Dec. 6. The first phase is a seven-story apartment at the corner of Sunrise Valley Drive and Wiehle Avenue. The 200-unit, brick, stone and metal building will have a four-level underground garage. This first phase of development also includes a temporary volleyball court and pathways to the Metro station.

 

The second phase will build a 24-story, apartment tower with up to 300 units, and the third stage adds a 22-story office building located immediately next to the Metro station. Next to this future office will be a direct pedestrian connection to the station from an elevated terrace along the building. The project’s final phase consists of a 14-story hotel near Sunrise Valley Drive.

 

Overall, Metro Commerce Center will offer 1.52 acres in parks, including five pocket parks and a civic plaza. These will be built in phases along with the rest of the development. In addition, Vornado will make financial contributions to building athletic fields in Reston.

 

The development also pushes forward the construction of a 10-foot shared use path on the north side of the Sunrise Valley Drive. As envisioned by our Bicycle Master Plan, this path will extend from Wiehle Avenue to Preston White Drive/South Lakes Drive. Vornado will build a segment of this path, and they will build an up to 15-dock bikeshare station near the Wiehle station.

 

The Lincoln

 

On a 3-acre site next to Metro Commerce Center, the Lincoln apartment complex will be built where the surface parking lot for the Executive II office condo is now. Located at Sunrise Valley Drive at Commerce Park Drive, the 260-unit apartment will have an interior courtyard and underground parking. The developer also will help to build the planned shared use path along Sunrise Valley.

[CNJRoss]

Fairfax County (VA) News Center:

 

Reston Station Promenade to Expand Neighborhood’s Urban Development

Posted on April 11, 2018

 

 

 

Reston Station Promenade promises to expand the urban neighborhood north of the Wiehle-Reston East Metro Station, almost doubling the current mixed-used development next to the station.

 

The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved the more than 1.3 million square foot development at its meeting on April 10.

 

The project significantly helps to fulfill the board’s vision for a thriving, transit-oriented neighborhood around the rail stop. The county’s land use plan for this area north of the station calls for up to 2.4 million square feet in development with about 1,900 housing units.

 

Real estate developer Comstock Partners’ newest project extends the previously approved 1.7 million square foot Reston Station development adjacent to the Metro station. The Promenade creates a new urban block directly across the street from Reston Station.

 

 

 

Promenade’s Plans

 

The project will be located on an 8.4-acre site at the corner of Sunset Hills Road and Wiehle Avenue. The county owns 1.3-acres of this land, which is currently the site of 30 office condos, one and two-story medical buildings and a Bank of America branch.

 

The redevelopment plan replaces these low-rise, suburban buildings with four new high-rise buildings that include up to 80,000 square feet in ground-floor retail:

• Two residential building with up to 540 units.
• 14-story office with 300,000 square feet.
• 23-story, 280-room hotel with up to 80 private residences.

 

The developer is also actively seeking a boutique music and entertainment venue for the development.

 

Notably, the Promenade creates a more cohesive design for this site than previously planned. The county’s 1.3-acre property had been planned for a residential building as part of Reston Station. However, the Board of Supervisors approved the developer’s plan to incorporate this land into the Promenade to create a more unified block that helps to build out the local street grid and provide greater open space for the neighborhood.

 

 

Affordable Housing

 

The Promenade also advances the county’s affordable housing goals.  The developer has committed to make 16.5 percent of its units affordable, higher than the county’s 12 percent standard. One-third of the affordable units will be for families earning 70 percent of the area median income (AMI), one-third will be for families making 90 percent of AMI and another third for families earning 100 percent of AMI.

Comstock Partners also will contribute more than $1.9 million to the county’s affordable housing trust fund.

 

 

Woonerf: A Living Street

 

While the development includes two new public roads, it also debuts a woonerf—the Dutch term for living streets. Found in Europe, these shared streets are intended to be used simultaneously by pedestrians, bicyclists and cars. They are designed without sidewalks, curbs and traffic lights. This forces cars to slow down and reclaims the streets as a realm for public interaction.

 

 

Plans for this Reston woonerf include planters, landscaping, trees and benches on the street to enliven it as a public space, as well as colored concrete pavers. Outside of The Wharf and Eckington Yards in D.C., the Promenade will be one of the few places in the region to experience this continental-style street.

 

 

Public Private Partnership

 

The Promenade builds upon the successful public-private partnership that created Reston Station.

 

Our county owns about nine acres that make up the approximately 11-acre development. Eight years ago, the county sought a partner to help build the public garage for the Wiehle-Reston East Metro station while maximizing the economic return on its land. Under the partnership, Comstock Partners built the 2,300-space, county owned garage. Reston Station’s first residential building, BLVD, a 448-unit apartment, was completed in 2016.

 

Comstock Partners plans to start construction this spring on its next office building, known as 1906 Reston Metro Plaza. The county is currently reviewing the building plans for this 180,000 square foot office.

 

Projects such as Reston Station are a key part of the county’s economic success strategic plan to grow and diversify the economy.

 

[CNJRoss]

Fairfax County (VA) Times, 4/12/19:
 

Google takes top two floors of Reston Station building

 

Google’s new home, the JAHN building at Reston Station.

PHOTO COURTESY COMSTOCK HOLDING COMPANIES, INC.

 

Google has signed a lease with Comstock for the top two floors in Reston Station’s signature office building.

 

The global technology company has had a longstanding presence in Reston ever since it opened a small office in Reston Town Center in 2005. It will start moving its current employee base into Reston Station later this summer.

 

Google will occupy the top floors of the trophy building designed by world-renowned architect Helmut Jahn. The sixteen-story building with a concrete exoskeleton over a glass curtain wall is now an icon in the Dulles Corridor, towering above the Dulles Toll Road and Metro’s Silver Line Wiehle-Reston East station.

 

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