Shake Shack wants to take over a closed restaurant in the Mosaic District.

The burger-and-shake chain has been working through Fairfax County’s permitting process to move into the former Choolaah space at Suite 110, 2911 District Avenue, but it still lacks health, building, and other approvals.

Construction Journal and the Washington Business Journal previously reported the news, though the latter noted that plans could fall through. That was the case with a former Arby’s location that Shake Shack had planned for North Bethesda.

According to the WBJ, Shake Shack’s plans include an outdoor patio and bar-style seating inside:

Per the Mosaic plans, drawn up by Gensler, the Shake Shack will break down as 4,070 square feet inside and 668 square feet on the outdoor patio. Inside there will be bar-style, linear and open seating and four order kiosks. In addition to Gensler, the team includes Henderson Engineers, engineer KPFF and TriMark, a food service consultant and supplier.

An email sent to a Shake Shack spokesperson yesterday (Wednesday) wasn’t returned by the time this article was published.

The company’s only other location in Fairfax County is at Tysons Corner Center. It opened in 2014.

Choolaah, an Indian fast-casual food chain, opened in the Mosaic District in 2016 and temporarily shuttered amid the pandemic before announcing in January that the closure would be permanent.

Health, building, mechanical, and other reviews are listed as incomplete after Shake Shack saw permitting setbacks in September. Its application to the county was processed July 13 and is still listed as pending.

(Updated at 7:30 p.m.) The Capital One Center development in Tysons is ramping up with lodging and dining.

The Watermark Hotel, featuring 300 luxury rooms, will open tomorrow (Tuesday), and the Wren — a Japanese-American bar and small plates restaurant — opens Friday (Sept. 24), said Tara McNamara, the hotel’s sales director.

“Our inspiration is derived from ‘izakaya,’ the Japanese concept of having a place to gather together to relax and chat while enjoying good food and drink,” chef Yo Matsuzaki said in a news release.

The restaurant’s fare includes oysters, sashimi, baby beet salad with yuzu pistachio vinaigrette, and grilled Black Angus ribeye — all of it prepared in front of guests. It will be open to the public from 5 to 10 p.m. with the bar operating from 3 to 11 p.m.

The Wren is located on the 11th floor by the hotel’s lobby, overlooking part of Tysons as well as The Perch, the recreational space featuring a park, brewery and other amenities that opened in late August. The park is located above Capital One Hall, a new performance venue opening Oct. 1 with Josh Groban.

This past weekend, a three-day festival showed off the sky park’s amenities. Superheroes rappelled down a side of the hotel to wash windows for the event.

Grab-and-go options in food truck façades are slated to be added by The Perch in the coming spring in a portion of the roof that construction crews are still preparing.

Capital One Financial owns The Watermark Hotel and is rolling out its debut with rooms for employees as the company navigates a return-to-work policy this November that keeps telecommuting in place on Mondays and Fridays.

The hotel’s suites feature local artists’ works that adorn everything from soap holders to wallpaper sponge paintings.

Jonathan Lee with B.F. Saul Company Hospitality Group, which is operating the hotel, shared with visitors how Capital One executives tested out which mattresses to pick for the hotel.

One was a base model, another was the kind used at the Ritz, and a third was ultra luxury: Without knowing which was which, the executives’ preferences centered on one choice, Lee said, causing the mattress budget to go through the roof.

A Capital One Center spokesperson later denied that executives had tested the hotel mattresses, calling the account inaccurate.

The Weekly Planner is a roundup of interesting events coming up over the next week in the Tysons area.

We’ve searched the web for events of note in Tysons, Vienna, Merrifield, McLean, and Falls Church. Know of any we’ve missed? Tell us!

Tuesday (Sept. 21)

• Indigo Girls with Ani DiFranco at Wolf Trap — 8 p.m. at the Filene Center (1551 Trap Road) — Joined by feminist singer/songwriter Ani DiFranco, the Grammy Award-winning folk-rock duo returns once again to Wolf Trap park. Proof of a vaccination or negative test for COVID-19 is required. Gates open at 6:30 p.m., and tickets start at $45.50.

Wednesday (Sept. 22)

• Bo-Nita — 8-9:30 p.m. at Boro Park (8350 Broad St.) — Tysons theater company 1st Stage continues its run of its latest play, which runs through Sunday (Sept. 26). The show follows the story of a 13-year-old girl and her mother trying to survive. Tickets start at $20, with discounts for military members and students.

Thursday (Sept. 23)

• The Avett Brothers at Wolf Trap — 8 p.m. at the Filene Center (1551 Trap Road) — The indie folk band, a Wolf Trap favorite, comes back to the park its knows-no-bounds sound ranging from bluegrass to acoustic rock. Proof of a vaccination or negative test for COVID-19 is required. Gates open at 6:30 p.m., and tickets start at $50. Another performance is scheduled for Friday.
• (Not) Strictly Painting — 7-8 p.m. at McLean Project for the Arts (1234 Ingleside Ave.) — The opening reception for a juried art exhibit kicks off. Works from over three dozen artists will be featured.

Friday (Sept. 24)

• Sunset Cinema — 7:45-10 p.m. at Cherry Hill Park (312 Park Ave.) — Falls Church City’s fall outdoor movie series continues with “Cars.” Visitors are encouraged to grab blankets, bring picnics, and/or enjoy snacks, drinks, and popcorn for sale.
• Parmalee — 6:30 p.m. at The Plaza at Tysons Corner Center (1961 Chain Bridge Road) — Closing out a September concert series is country music band Parmalee, known for its No. 1 Country Airplay hit “Carolina.” Doors open at 5 p.m.

Saturday (Sept. 25)

• Teens on the Green — 11 a.m.-3 p.m. at the Vienna Town Green (144 Maple Ave. East) — The Town of Vienna highlights teenage artists with a free concert open to the public.
• Harvest Happenings — 11 a.m.-2 p.m. at the McLean Community Center (1234 Ingleside Ave.) — Celebrate fall with this indoor and outdoor festival that features a petting zoo, entertainment, crafts, and games. Pumpkins will be available for purchase. Registration is required.
• Fall Festival — 11 a.m.-6 p.m. at Mosaic District (2910 District Ave.) — This two-day outdoor festival features crafts, a beer garden, kids activities, live entertainment from local artists Pop Stereo and Groovalicious, and more.
• Fall Fest — 12-4 p.m. at The Boro (8350 Broad St.) — The Tysons development ushers in fall with a family-friendly event featuring games, seasonal beverages, doughnut decorating, a hayride photo booth, and more.

Sunday (Sept. 26)

• The Blue Monster — 1:30-2:30 p.m. at The Plaza at Tysons Corner Center (1961 Chain Bridge Road) — Middle school students with the Tysons-based Traveling Players Ensemble will take the stage to perform the family-friendly fairy tale, Carlo Gozzi’s twist on the “Beauty and the Beast” story.
• Pimmit Hills Day — 11 a.m.-2 p.m. in Olney Park (1840 Olney Road) — Led by the Pimmit Hills Citizens’ Association, a neighborhood celebration brings together entertainment, food, and kids-friendly activities, including a moon bounce obstacle course.

The Vienna Town Council approved a project on Monday (Sept. 13) to develop a vacant property with cottage housing-style duplexes.

Developer JDA Custom Homes is looking to construct six two-family dwellings at a 1.38-acre site at 117-121 Courthouse Road SW, where each unit would have a two-car parking garage at the basement level and belong to a homeowners’ association.

JDA Vice President Jordan Rice described the outside of the homes by saying they will use low-cost materials aimed at people looking to downsize their living space.

Her father, Dennis Rice, the company’s founder, said each home will have approximately 1,200 square feet on the main level and about 600 square feet on the second floor.

He declined to say what the price of each home or range would be when asked by Councilmember Nisha Patel at the public hearing.

“Do you foresee each unit being at least under $1 million?” she said.

“At this time, I cannot make any…statement on that,” Dennis Rice said, citing rising building material costs and adding that he couldn’t make a guess at this point.

Patel said she likes the project, which will provide an alternative to the single-family, standalone houses that dominate the Town of Vienna, but she noted that the majority of homes in the town are under $1 million.

Councilmember Chuck Anderson asked if two units could be reduced in size to make them more affordable. Dennis Rice replied that the units “really don’t become sellable” if they’re any smaller.

The town council first voted 5-0 to approve rezoning the lots from a single-family residential district to a multi-family, low-density area. Patel and Councilmember Ray Brill abstained from the vote.

After the rezoning was approved, JDA proposed changes to several development requirements, including one aimed at reducing the footprint of constructed buildings and amenities. The zoning area there limits lot coverage to 25% at most for anything from buildings, parking spots, and athletic courts to patios and terraces.

The developer asked for an allowance up to 60% but believes it can achieve the development with 55.3% lot coverage, the town said. The gap leaves room for flexibility, according to the developer.

Changes to rear and front setbacks as well as other lot requirements were also requested.

As part of its application, JDA noted that 13 other developments in the town had lot coverages ranging from 33.9% (Park Terrace Condo section two at 212-218 Locust St. SE) to 66.6% (Vienna Villager at 200 Locust St. NE).

Brill expressed concern that the town council is getting ahead of itself in trying to change Vienna’s housing stock, giving developers more influence than individual homeowners. He added that the town might want to finish its ongoing zoning code rewrite first.

Councilmember Ed Somers said the opportunity could evaporate and the developer didn’t have to go this route.

Patel also raised a concern about the front yard setback, in which the applicant requested the town allow two homes 23 feet from a sidewalk and a one-story clubhouse 20 feet away from the pedestrian route. The required setback there is 35 feet.

However, the town council ultimately approved the site modifications 6-0 with Patel abstaining.

Idylwood residents will officially have to wait another five years for relief from construction on a power substation project that was originally slated for a May 31, 2020 completion.

The State Corporation Commission granted an extension to Dominion Energy last Wednesday (Sept. 8), letting the utility company take until Dec. 31, 2026 to finish a project that has become a headache for surrounding neighborhoods.

“I think the neighborhood is resigned and tired after 8 years,” Lori Jeffrey, president of the Holly Crest Community Association Board of Directors, said by email. “It’s always been uphill and we know that Dominion will ultimately get what they ask for.”

The project involves upgrading the Idylwood power substation at Shreve Road that was originally built in the late 1950s and reducing the facility’s footprint from 3.99 acres to 2.27 acres, according to Dominion.

The company filed application paperwork with Fairfax County in 2014, got SCC approval for the project in 2017, and ramped up pre-construction activities in 2018. The SCC’s initial order required the rebuild to be complete in 2020 but allowed room for an extension.

“We are committed to keeping this complex and necessary project on schedule,” Dominion spokesperson Peggy Fox said in a statement. “Ensuring the community’s energy needs go uninterrupted is a priority.

Adding that “much of the work is orchestrated around energized equipment,” Fox said that unexpected circumstances always occur during construction, but Dominion is taking precautions to limit delays and will adhere to its commitment to the neighborhood to limit weekend work.

Previously, the company justified the amount of time sought for the rebuild by citing the complexity of the project and longer-than-exected permitting processes, among other factors, acknowledging that it had underestimated parts of the timeline.

The extension comes after residents voiced concerns about delays in the project and questioned whether Dominion was being honest about its work.

During an SCC hearing in June that was requested by Fairfax County officials, residents spoke about the project lasting for years and questioned how trustworthy the company is when it presents information.

In a concession to residents’ frustrations, the commission’s timeline extension approval comes with a requirement that Dominion post quarterly construction updates on its website for the project.

“I think our constant pressure has also ensured that [Dominion] will build the wall on Shreve road this fall, years before the other 3 sides,” Jeffrey wrote. “This will help mitigate the appearance of the construction for everyone but the residents immediately adjacent to the substation.”

(Updated at 11:30 a.m. on 9/14/2021) The Weekly Planner is a roundup of interesting events coming up over the next week in the Tysons area.

We’ve searched the web for events of note in Tysons, Vienna, Merrifield, McLean, and Falls Church. Know of any we’ve missed? Tell us!

Tuesday (Sept. 14)

• Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit at Wolf Trap — 8 p.m. at the Filene Center (1551 Trap Road) — Joined by alternative folk band Waxahatchee, the country band led by Isbell, a former Drive-By Truckers guitarist and four-time Grammy Award winner, returns to Wolf Trap. Proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test is required. Tickets start at $47. Gates open at 6 p.m.

Thursday (Sept. 16)

• Bo-Nita — 8-9:30 p.m. at Boro Park (8350 Broad St.) — Tysons theater company 1st Stage hosts an opening night for its latest play, which runs through Sept. 26. “Bo-Nita” follows the story of a 13-year-old girl and her mother trying to survive. Tickets start at $20, with discounts for military members and students.

Friday (Sept. 17)

• Chillin’ on Church — 6:30-9:30 p.m. on Church Street — The Town of Vienna holds its second and last block party featuring food trucks and alcohol. Bring your own lawn chairs and listen to Déja Grüv Band, a 14-piece ensemble that performs music genres from Motown and jazz to pop, rhythm and blues, country, and more.
• Shaed at The Plaza — 6:30 p.m. at Tysons Corner Center Plaza (1961 Chain Bridge Road) — Tysons Corner Center is closing out the summer with a September concert series at the mall plaza. Doors open at 5 p.m. for this week’s performer, indie pop trio Shaed.
• Sunset Cinema — 7:45-10 p.m. at Cherry Hill Park (312 Park Ave.) — Falls Church City’s fall outdoor movie series kicks off with Disney’s “Raya and the Last Dragon.” Visitors are encouraged to grab blankets, bring picnics, and/or enjoy snacks, drinks, and popcorn for sale.

Saturday (Sept. 18)

• Korus Festival — all day at the Bloomingdale’s parking lot (8100 Tysons Corner Center) — With hourly entertainment, kids’ activities, food, and more, celebrate Korean culture this weekend. The free festival begins at 10 a.m. both days and has hourly events throughout the day, ending at 9 p.m. on Saturday and 8 p.m. Sunday.
• Hop Harvest Beer Festival — 12-7 p.m. at Caboose Commons (2918 Eskridge Road) — Caboose Brewing Co. hosts several local breweries and cideries in Merrifield for the second annual Hop Harvest Festival. There will be a barbecue, an outdoor bar, and games.
• OFC Block Party — 1-4 p.m. at The Old Firehouse Center (1440 Chain Bridge Road) in McLean — McLean Community Center’s Old Firehouse celebrates 31 years of serving local youth with food, games, entertainment, crafts, giveaways, and more.
• Buckets N Boards Comedy Percussion Show — 5 p.m. at McLean Central Park (1468 Dolley Madison Blvd.) —  The comedy-music duo will perform a free 90-minute kids-focused show, featuring ridiculous songs, tap dancing, and more.

Sunday (Sept. 19)

• Perchfest— 12-3 p.m. and 3-5 p.m. at Capital One Center (Capital One Drive North and South) — The sky park on top of Capital One Hall ends its three-day grand opening festival, which starts on Friday. Tickets for the first two days have already sold out, but registration is still open for the finale. Paid parking is available at the building on the Capital One Drive South side as well as surrounding lots.

Photo via USAsiaPacific/Twitter

(Updated on Sept. 10) The Tysons skyline will soon look a little emptier, as one of the three cranes looming over Capital One Center near the Capital Beltway is scheduled to be disassembled next week.

The move marks a turning point in construction on the mixed-use development forming around Capital One’s headquarters. The Perch sky park opened to the public last month, and the performing arts venue Capital One Hall and The Watermark Hotel will come online this fall.

The next phase focuses on two office towers — one 24 stories tall and the other 30 stories, plus a roof — that the cranes have been piecing together on the site. Linked by an atrium, the buildings will encompass 900,000 square feet of office and retail space, slated to be finished in 2023, according to Capital One Center.

Miller & Long — one of dozens of subcontractors for the project — topped off both towers earlier this year, but crane operators have been assisting other parts of the build, and the skyscrapers are still a hard-hat site.

The tallest crane, which towers 550 feet above ground, will come down by mid-October, and crews will remove the remaining crane on the north side of the new buildings by the end of the year.

The bulk of Miller & Long’s work on Capital One Center occurred last year even as the COVID-19 pandemic upended the construction industry across the country.

Construction jobs in Virginia took an initial hit before the industry bounced back to its pre-pandemic peak of over 207,000 jobs by the end of 2020. Since January, though, employment has dropped again by several thousand.

Miller & Long CEO Brett McMahon says the dip stems from a statewide pause in college and university construction. He says that’s only a limited factor for dips in jobs statewide, not Tysons.

“The state university projects…started getting pushed and pushed and pushed,” he said. “That part of it may be a big chunk of what’s affecting the overall demand for construction.”

However, Miller & Long expects to see continued growth in the D.C. region and is “pursuing a record number of projects,” Vice President of Logistics Jim Martinoski says.

While other businesses faced multi-week shutdowns or had to adapt to work-from-home setups, construction of the two Capital One Center office towers only halted for one day due to COVID-19 sometime around late spring of 2020, Martinoski says.

Even for a commercial development project, Capital One Center has been a massive undertaking, sprawling across 26 acres of land at the intersection of I-495 and Route 123.

Miller & Long poured 100,000 cubic yards of concrete for the Capital One headquarters, which began in 2014 and finished in 2018. The adjacent block featuring Capital One Hall, The Watermark Hotel, and Wegmans required another 100,000 cubic yards.

The new office towers have consumed 90,000 cubic yards of concrete. Typical jobs for 20 to 30-story buildings involve 20,000 to 30,000 cubic yards.

The Capital One campus is part of a development boom in Tysons that has also seen a shift to more eco-friendly buildings, according to Miller & Long.

While working on Capital One Center, the contractor has started using more environmentally friendly cement made in batches at the site, reducing the need for trucks to haul it to the work site as has been done traditionally.

“It’s amazing how much it has grown,” McMahon said of Tysons. “It was a bit of farmland when I was a kid.”

The Weekly Planner is a roundup of interesting events coming up over the next week in the Tysons area.

We’ve searched the web for events of note in Tysons, Vienna, Merrifield, McLean, and Falls Church. Know of any we’ve missed? Tell us!

Tuesday (Sept. 7)

• Weird History for Kids — 4:30-5:15 p.m. at Dolley Madison Library (1244 Oak Ridge Avenue) — Learn about mummies through art, games, stories, and skill-building exercises in this month’s entry in the McLean-based library’s history series. Space is limited for the in-person event, which is geared toward kids aged 6-12.

Thursday (Sept. 9)

• Lake Street Dive with Valerie June at Wolf Trap — 8 p.m. at the Filene Center (1551 Trap Road) — Joined by alternative singer Valerie June, the long-running band blends pop, jazz, soul, disco, and rock to create a sound all its own. Proof of a vaccination or negative test for COVID-19 is required. Gates open at 6:30 p.m., and tickets start at $47.

Friday (Sept. 10)

• “Aspirations” Opening Night — 5-7 p.m. at Pars Place (2236-C Gallows Road) — Meet the local artists in an opening reception for their new art exhibit hosted by the Iranian-American Community Center in Dunn Loring. Face coverings or masks are required, and advanced registration is recommended.

Saturday (Sept. 11)

• Sept. 11 Remembrance Ceremony — 9 a.m. at the Freeman Store and Museum (131 Church St. NE) — The American Legion Dyer-Gunnell Post 180 in Vienna is hosting a 9/11 Remembrance Ceremony, marking 20 years since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
• 45th Annual Falls Church Festival — 10 a.m.-4 p.m. at City Hall (300 Park Ave.) — From children’s entertainment to a beer garden and booths for local crafters and others, the free admission festival will feature food, amusement rides, and entertainment. Visitors are encouraged to wear a mask while not eating or drinking and must wear one when entering the Falls Church Community Center (223 Little Falls St.).
• Truck and Toss — 4 p.m. at Grace Christian Academy (3233 Annandale Road) — The food truck, craft beer, and cornhole festival benefits a tuition assistance program for the West Falls Church-based private school, which serves students up to eighth grade. General admission is $40.

Sunday (Sept. 12)

• Congenital Heart Walk — 9:45 a.m. at Wolf Trap (1551 Trap Road) — The walk supports The Children’s Heart Foundation mission to fund congenital heart defect  research. In-person activities are being held throughout the day, before and after the walk, and there’s also a virtual option. Register online.
• Tysons 5K — 9 a.m. race start at Tysons Corner Center (1961 Chain Bridge Road) — Through a partnership with Tysons Corner Center and Food for Others, the 3.1-mile race and fun run will raise money to provide rice and beans for dozens of families in need. Pre-registration is $35 for running in person or virtually, and walking is encouraged, too.

The McLean Citizens Association has thrown its support behind a planned expansion of The Boro after working with the developer to make adjustments to the project, which will replace the former NADA headquarters site in Tysons.

The volunteer group’s board of directors passed a resolution during a virtual meeting on Wednesday (Sept. 1), noting that developer The Meridian Group made changes to its plans that would appease the association as well as neighbors at The Rotonda Condominiums.

“Meridian has been very forthcoming with working with us,” Rotonda Condominium Unit Owners Association President Doug Doolittle told Tysons Reporter. “We’re pleased with our relationship with Meridian.”

The project calls for demolishing the former National Automobile Dealers Association building at 8400 Westpark Drive and introducing mixed-use development at the complex, including a residential and assisted living building for older adults, extensive retail space, new streets, park space, and more.

Doolittle said his association has been impressed with Meridian making adjustments to concerns they’ve shared.

The Rotonda Condo association hired a traffic consultant and land-use attorney and has met with the developer some eight or 10 times over the last year to address issues ranging from construction to visual impacts.

For example, a building slated to become a pharmacy won’t have windows in a rear area, so the developer arranged to have vegetation and a mural on the wall, Doolittle said.

When crews began tearing down the NADA building last week, the association sent an email to Meridian Vice President Tom Boylan, and the next day, the company had water sprayers on the site to address dust issues.

MCA board member Bob Perito reported that the citizens’ group, which bills itself as the “unofficial town hall” of the greater McLean area, had a similar experience with the developer regarding interactions with its Planning and Zoning Committee.

“The applicants…responded to detailed, written questions from the P&Z, and they modified the projects in response to some of the committee’s suggestions,” said Perito, who represents The Hamptons of McLean Townhome Association.

Meridian is scheduled to deliver a presentation to The Rotunda residents on Sept. 9. While the condo association has given regular progress updates, the meeting will give residents a chance to learn about the project firsthand. It will also be available to Rotunda residents via Zoom.

“This would be the residents’ first chance to really talk with Meridian,” Doolittle said.

Doolittle said he thinks making these requests during the planning process is a more effective way to push for meaningful change than waiting for a Fairfax County Planning Commission or Board of Supervisors public hearing.

The project builds off The Boro, which debuted in 2019 with luxury high rises, an office-and-retail building called Boro Tower, restaurants, and a 70,000-square-foot Whole Foods. The grocery store alone is the size of just over 1.2 football fields.

MCA’s resolution highlights the money for schools and a recreational field in Tysons that are included in the project’s proffers, though at-large board member Martin Smith noted that a developer contribution rate for multifamily residential units assumes there’s one kindergarten through 12th grade student per nine households.

According to the resolution, Meridian’s school contribution would amount to “$12,262 per expected student” based on varying ratios for the different kinds of residential units in the new buildings.

“That really seems low,” Smith said of the proposed rate of 0.112 students per unit for multifamily residences, wondering more about how the methodology of such contributions work.

The project will head before the Planning Commission on Oct. 6 and before the Board of Supervisors on Oct. 19.

An office building from the 1970s could be demolished to make way for a modern skyscraper along the Capital Beltway in Tysons.

The 11-story, 135-foot tall Park Place I (7926 Jones Branch Drive) is slated for an overhaul. Property owner B.F. Saul Real Estate Investment Trust is looking to replace it with a building with ground-floor retail, a terraced plaza, outdoor seating areas, and “trophy-class office space,” according to application materials.

The developer is seeking a special exception from Fairfax County to waive certain requirements, including an increase in the site’s permitted building height, to make way for the project.

“Compared to the existing building, the proposed Park Place I building will be rotated 90 degrees, thereby opening up views, light, and air through the site and creating symmetry with the adjacent Hilton Worldwide headquarters building,” Mark Viani, a land use and zoning lawyer for the project, said in a July 2 statement of justification to the county.

Viani, who works with the Arlington-based law firm Bean, Kinney, & Korman, noted that the current building remains in operation but “is outdated and is 100% vacant of all tenants.”

B.F. Saul previously submitted plans for an 18-story building in 2018, when it sought to obtain a parking requirement exception. Under its current plan, the redeveloped property would provide 1,842 spaces — more than the 1,506 spaces required.

As part of improvements, the owner would provide 4,040 square feet of urban park space at the property along Jones Branch Drive, which also would be widened to accommodate a new bike lane.

Park Place II (7930 Jones Branch Drive) would not be affected by the redevelopment project. The 147-foot tall office building was built in 2008 and remains home to Hilton’s corporate headquarters.

The proposed construction project is in a C-4 High Intensity Office District county zoning area, which restricts a building height to 120 feet and requires a front setback of 54 feet.

Under the names Tysons Park Inc. and Tysons Park Place II LLC, B.F. Saul is requesting permission for the new building to be 175 feet high and other waivers, including a 41-foot front setback.

The proposal calls for amending a special exception that was approved in 2000 and permitted the Park Place II to reach up to 150 feet in height but maintained Park Place I’s current height, according to the application.

As part of the justification in the request, Viani noted the county’s Tysons Comprehensive Plan calls for buildings up to 175 feet tall in that area based on its proximity to Metro stations. He says that by building “up” rather than “out,” the applicants will better improve pedestrian-oriented spaces and on-site open space.

“Its location along a prominent road makes it a desirable site for additional height to help create a stronger building identity and sense of place in Tysons,” Viani wrote.