Space in Herndon’s Woodland Park neighborhood that was previously approved for office uses could flip instead into a mostly residential building.
The Texas-based developer Trammell Crow Residential has purchased the contract for a little over three acres of vacant land at the intersection of the Dulles Airport Access Road and Monroe Street so it can construct an apartment building with 320 units and nearly 118,000 square feet of storage space.
Renderings in a rezoning application submitted to Fairfax County last Friday (Sept. 20) suggest the building will part of Trammell Crow’s Alexan brand, which is described on its website as “luxury apartment communities.” Existing buildings include the Alexan Fitzroy in Arlington and the Alexan Florence in Alexandria.
In a statement of justification for the application, a land use agent representing the developer argues that the office space originally approved in 2002 for Block E of the Woodland Park East development is obsolete in the current market.
With office vacancy rates currently at 23% in the Reston and Herndon submarket, the applicant says the market has shifted away from car-oriented office locations to transit-oriented office locations within a quarter-mile of the local Metro stations.
“The property is simply too far from Metro to compete effectively for office tenants with sites/buildings that are more immediately adjacent,” Cooley associate Amanda Williams wrote. “However, demand for residential development near transit stations, even when located further within 1/4, remains high and still capitalizes upon the availability of transit as residents are willing to walk this distance to and from stations.”
The application says this is an “optimal time to reposition the property for a mix of residential and commercial use that will complement the Herndon Metro Station rather than have this site continue to sit vacant for years to come.”
If approved, the project would proceed in two phases, beginning with the residential development, a parking garage and a ground-floor retail suite near Woodland View Drive. The self-storage facility would be built in the second phase, which could involve converting the retail suite into a storefront for the facility.
The self-storage portion of the building is described as having an “attractive, retail-like appearance,” along with a facade complemented by ground-floor patios and balconies. It will also include a courtyard with a pool and grilling/patio area for residents.
The building will be supported by two parking garages with the ground floor providing spaces for the self-storage uses and a separate garage for the multi-family building.
“All self-storage loading activities will occur within the separate, covered and screened ground-floor parking area,” the application says.
A 10-foot multipurpose trail is planned along Woodland View Drive, connecting to nearby destinations like the Herndon Metro Station and the Woodland Community Park.
The application is in the early stages of the county’s review process and has not yet been formally accepted.
