The all-affordable residential high-rises planned at Dominion Square West are officially moving forward.
During its meeting on Feb. 15, the Fairfax County Planning Commission unanimously approved the Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing’s (APAH) project, which will replace parking lots currently used by auto dealerships with two 21-story buildings.
In addition to providing 516 units for people earning 60% of the area median income or less, the development will contain private and publicly accessible open spaces and a 33,500-square-foot, two-story community center, all of it supported by a five-story underground parking garage.
“I think this is great,” Dranesville District Commissioner John Ulfelder said. “It fits what we agreed to earlier, it’s going to be a terrific opportunity, and that it’s going to be all affordable is amazing.”
Early in 2022, the commission approved a 175-unit building at 1592 Spring Hill Road that was intended as the first phase of development for the 2-acre parcel.
However, a $55 million investment from Amazon enabled APAH to tackle both phases of the project at the same time. The developer filed a new plan with the county last summer.
“We really think that getting these units online quicker, getting the community center online quicker and the significant increase in the number of units really is a great thing for the county, a great thing for the Tysons area,” said Scott Adams, a McGuireWoods land-use attorney representing APAH.
The community center will be operated by Fairfax County Neighborhood and Community Services and feature a full-size gym, meeting spaces, multi-purpose rooms, kitchen, administrative offices, and flexible classroom spaces, according to a county staff memo.
It will also have a 1,900-square-foot skypark — the second level of a courtyard with play equipment, outdoor seating, grilling stations and other private amenities for residents. The skypark will be open to the public when not being used by the community center.
Public forums held last year confirmed there’s “a distinct need” for a community center to serve both residents of the new development and Tysons in general, Adams said.
“There was a desire and a need for these types of facilities where they can have community meetings, where they can have CPR classes, where they have those recreational opportunities that really just don’t exist right now,” he said.
Braddock District Commissioner Mary Cortina said she prefers this location for a community center over The View, a mixed-use development planned at the Spring Hill Metro station that had proposed a similar facility.
With the community center going in Dominion Square, The View’s developer will likely provide support for a new athletic field instead, county staff recently told FFXnow.
As discussed at a Tysons Committee meeting last month, several commissioners suggested the county needs to be more “strategic” or thoughtful about what public facilities are needed in Tysons and where they should be located.
“While we’re concerned about community centers and having too many of them or having them in the right spot, schools I think is another thing for us to consider where they are,” Hunter Mill District Commissioner John Carter said. “We have one maybe committed. We’re probably going to need more in Tysons over time.”
According to a Dec. 27 letter, Fairfax County Public Schools projects Dominion Square West will result in 43 to 70 new students for the Marshall High School pyramid.
While that isn’t expected to push the schools over capacity, FCPS warns increased residential density “will necessarily increase [student membership], which may negatively impact the instructional program to the detriment of the students involved.”
Adams said the Tysons area should have more capacity by the time the development opens. Planning is underway to convert the Dunn Loring Center into an elementary school, though the boundaries won’t be determined until construction begins next year.
Fairfax County hopes to make use of American Rescue Plan funding to help provide housing for some of those most in need.
In a meeting of the Board of Supervisors Housing Committee last week, staff from the Department of Housing and Community Development said a tranche of federal funding could help local residents in more extreme levels of poverty than most affordable housing programs in the county assist.
“This is a rare funding opportunity specifically targeted to reducing homelessness and can serve populations at the extreme low end of the spectrum,” said Thomas Barnett, deputy director of the Office to Prevent and End Homelessness. “This provides not just housing, but money for supportive services that we know people need.”
Fairfax County was awarded $7.88 million from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
According to the presentation to the committee:
HOME-ARP funds must be used to primarily benefit individuals or families from the following qualifying populations:
- Homeless
- At risk of homelessness
- Those fleeing, or attempting to flee, domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, stalking, or human trafficking
- Other families requiring services or housing assistance to prevent homelessness
- Households at greatest risk of housing instability
Barnett said there are around 88 permanent supportive housing projects in the pipeline that the nearly $8 million in federal funding could go toward. The funding comes as Fairfax County deals with an uptick in people experiencing homelessness, caused in large part by the pandemic and related economic turmoil.
“Chronic homelessness has increased disproportionately during the pandemic,” Barnett said. “[It’s] up 34% in the last 5 years.”
Even within that category, some supervisors said they’d like to see funding targeted specifically on addressing youth homelessness. The most recent Point-in-Time Count — a survey of people experiencing homelessness in the span of one night — found 91 people between the ages of 18-24 experiencing homelessness in Fairfax County.
“We have, as you point out, a rare funding opportunity with a big infusion of funds,” Board Chairman Jeff McKay said. “I’m still troubled by, when we get that Point-in-Time Count, that homeless youth count…I would like more information coming back as to what strategies we might employ to help with that, to use this rare opportunity funding to solve what we know is always a difficult thing to work with under normal circumstances, can any of this be used to accelerate that.”
Fairfax County is seeking public feedback to reduce the chances of future residents and visitors confusing Tysons Corner Center with Tysons Galleria, among other potential mix-ups.
The county launched a Tysons Wayfinding and Signage Survey on Feb. 14 in partnership with the Tysons Community Alliance, which formed last fall as the next-stage evolution of the nonprofit Tysons Partnership.
“We are excited to be working with the County on this important initiative,” Tysons Community Alliance acting CEO Rich Bradley said. “Wayfinding is the first touch point for many people as they enter and move around a place. It should be welcoming and reflect the area”s sense of community and as such we want people to participate in the survey and provide their ideas.”
Focused on how to “improve the experience” of getting around Tysons, questions in the survey deal with modes of transportation used for traveling, ways people describe Tysons, and the usefulness of digital signage for sharing information.
The survey will be open until Monday, March 6 at 11:59 p.m.
Survey responses will play an important role in informing the development of a Tysons-wide wayfinding strategy. Be sure to submit your feedback before the survey closes on Monday, March 6 at 11:59 p.m.
— Dalia Palchik (@SupvPalchik) February 14, 2023
Officially created on Oct. 13, 2022, the Tysons Community Alliance serves as an advocacy organization for residents, businesses and other stakeholders in the area, overseeing the implementation of the county’s comprehensive plan.
The group has been tasked with developing branding for Tysons, supporting its economic growth, placemaking, and improving mobility. Its funding comes from the county budget and an economic opportunity grant, though it will likely be supported by a special tax in the long term.
In addition to conducting the wayfinding survey, the alliance is getting ready to launch an updated logo, website and social media accounts, all of which will be formally unveiled tomorrow (Wednesday), per a media alert.
“Bookmark this page to discover why the time is right to join the vanguard of stakeholders who are committed to the ongoing evolution of Tysons, a thriving 21st century destination for business, retail and families,” the page at tysonsva.org says. “Our new website is launching soon!”
The Fairfax County Police Department (FCPD) is expanding the use of automated license plate reader technology across the county, despite concerns from civil rights groups.
The department will install 25 automated license plate readers (ALPRs) around Fairfax County by the spring, FCPD spokesperson Sergeant Hudson Bull confirmed to FFXnow.
This expansion of the program comes after an eight-week “test period,” where the camera system was placed in two locations and assisted in “over 35 cases which have led to over 60 arrest charges,” Bull said.
Based on that data, the trial period has now been extended an additional 10 months to Oct. 31, 2023.
Over the next nine months, cameras will watch more than two dozen “high-crime” areas in the county.
“The camera placement is based on data showing where most stolen vehicles are recovered and where most crime occurs that we believe these cameras could assist us in solving,” Bull said.
The camera system comes from Flock Safety, which has installed ALPRs in more than 2,000 localities across the county.
The ALPR cameras capture license plates, vehicle color, make and model, and send a “real-time alert” to law enforcement when a stolen car or a vehicle used in a crime is detected within a database.
During the initial trial period in November and December, FCPD says the system helped it recover six stolen cars worth an estimated $350,000. In one car, fentanyl and methamphetamines were found, and another had more than five pounds of marijuana, police say.
The system also helped police locate two missing persons when the cameras detected vehicles associated with those cases.
“Two persons were quickly located by officers and safely returned home after alerts were sent,” Bull wrote. “The officers can also search the cameras in cases when a person has been missing for several hours but there is a delay in reporting.”
While Flock Safety and FCPD tout ALPRs as crime prevention and solving tools, local civil rights groups have a number of ethical and privacy concerns about the county expanding the program.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia (ACLU-VA) said it wasn’t aware of the program’s expansion prior to being contacted by FFXnow.
“The ACLU is always concerned about the efforts to expand mass surveillance,” ACLU-VA senior staff attorney Matt Callahan told FFXnow. “We consider the privacy of individuals and their freedom of movement to be a core value of society.”
He noted that the organization believes decisions to use ALPRs and other tracking or surveillance technology should be “in the public’s hands” and not solely left to law enforcement or individual vendors like Flock.
“What we often see is that the public doesn’t favor the kind of widespread expansion of surveillance technology for law enforcement,” Callahan said. “At a minimum, they ask for additional privacy safeguards, like individual audits by outside agencies to make sure that the information is not being misused.”
Flock Safety noted that the cameras “capture license plates and vehicle characteristics, not people or faces,” and “are not intended for minor traffic or parking violations.”
Data retention has also been a source of debate in the county and Virginia for a number of years.
A Fairfax County judge ruled in 2019 that maintaining a database of photos of vehicle license plates violated Virginia privacy law. A year later, the Virginia State Supreme Court overturned that decision, saying police could keep this data indefinitely.
In 2021, a bill proposed in the State Senate would have limited the storing of data collected by ALPRs to 30 days if there’s no warrant or ongoing investigation. That bill failed, but a similar one is currently being considered in the General Assembly.
The FCPD confirmed that it can collect and store license plate data for up to one year, but Flock Safety’s system only stores data for 30 days.
“Because the storage of LPR data is provided in the initial cost of the Flock Safety system, the FCPD will only keep the data for 30 days…collected by the Flock cameras,” Bull said.
While storing data for a month is less problematic than a whole year, Callahan says it still brings up plenty of worries when it comes to privacy.
“It still lets law enforcement go back and map out travel patterns of people who come under suspicion later. They can basically reconstruct where someone’s been a month at a time,” he said. “That’s…different than merely checking if a stolen car is in a specific place at a specific time.”
Bull said FCPD has heard these concerns, particularly from the NAACP’s Fairfax County branch, and has “directly responded” by ensuring data is used only for “law enforcement purposes.” The department is keeping records of each officer’s use of the system.
There’s an auditing feature as well “supervised by administrators of the system,” and in accordance with the county’s Trust Policy, FCPD has “opted out” of gathering information regarding “immigration status violations,” Bull said.
Despite those promises, the Virginia ACLU remains concerned.
“A license plate is enough often to link that to a person’s identity. The whole point of this technology is to use that information to figure out who was traveling where and when they are in a specific place,” Callahan said. “This information has significant implications for the privacy of individuals who use Virginia’s roads and highways.”
Fire Danger Heightened Today — “There is an increased fire danger for Tuesday, February 21st. Outdoor burning is strongly discouraged during this time and remember to properly dispose of smoking material.” [Ready Fairfax/Twitter]
Mount Vernon School Board Rep to Retire — “Karen Corbett Sanders, the Mount Vernon District representative to the Fairfax County School Board, announced Feb. 15 that she will not be running for a third term later this year…Corbett Sanders told On the Move that her decision not to pursue a third term was difficult and one that she didn’t take lightly.” [On the MoVe]
Five-Vehicle Crash Closes I-495 — Two people were evaluated for injuries not deemed life-threatening after a five-vehicle crash on northbound I-495 before I-66 in the Dunn Loring area. The crash closed the Capital Beltway for about an hour, and first responders had to extinguish a fire around one car. [FCFRD/Facebook]
Virginia Among States Scrutinizing AP Course — “At least four more states will review the new Advanced Placement African American studies course to see if it conflicts with their policies or laws restricting the teaching of race…Officials in Arkansas, Virginia, North Dakota and Mississippi said they had questions and planned reviews before deciding whether the new class may be taught in their classrooms.” [The Washington Post]
Springfield Woman Convicted in Gang Case — “A Springfield woman was sentenced Thursday to 15 months in prison for witness tampering in connection with a federal trial against four people accused of violent gang activity in Virginia, California and other states, according to federal prosecutors.” [Patch]
Staffing Still a Challenge for McLean Police Station — “Residents learned that the McLean police district still has a 30-percent vacancy rate among officers, the same vacancy rate as a year ago…The police district has 38 open positions that it needs to fill, [Captain Carolyn Kinney, who heads the McLean police station] said.” [Patch]
Mount Vernon Celebrates George Washington’s Birthday — “While George Washington’s actual birthday is Feb. 22, large crowds gathered at his estate outside Alexandria, Virginia, to celebrate and learn a little more about the nation’s first president…Overall, Mount Vernon staff estimated Monday’s daily attendance at nearly 20,000 visitors.” [WTOP]
Spring Water Flush Begins — “Each spring, Fairfax Water flushes its water mains by opening fire hydrants and allowing them to flow freely for a short period of time. During this time, the treatment process switches from using combined chlorine to free chlorine.” Treatment began for the McLean and Falls Church areas yesterday (Monday) but isn’t set to start for the rest of the county until March 20. [Fairfax County Government]
County Summer Camp Registration Opens — “Registration for 2023 Camp Fairfax begins on Tuesday, February 21, 2023, at 8 a.m. The summer day camp is open to rising first through seventh graders living in Fairfax County or the City of Fairfax. Camp Fairfax gives campers the opportunity to explore interests in performing arts, visual arts and sports/team-building.” [Neighborhood and Community Services]
It’s Tuesday — Partly cloudy throughout the day. High of 61 and low of 45. Sunrise at 6:53 am and sunset at 5:53 pm. [Weather.gov]
Nikole Hannah-Jones, the investigative journalist behind “The 1619 Project,” is coming to McLean.
Anyone hoping to snag a last-minute ticket to her talk at the McLean Community Center on Sunday (Feb. 19), however, is out of luck. Seats filled up quickly once registration opened last month, and the waitlist has exceeded 400 people, according to the Fairfax County Public Library (FCPL), which organized the free event.
Fortunately, Hannah-Jones has agreed to let the county make a recording of the event that will be shared “for a limited time” with attendees and everyone on the waitlist, FCPL Director Jessica Hudson says.
“We are honored and excited to host Ms. Hannah-Jones, a Pulitzer Prize and Peabody Award winning author, and creator of the landmark 1619 Project, during our Black History Month celebration,” Hudson said in a statement. “Authors are chosen for a variety of reasons including educational value, because they inspire a high level of interest among our diverse community members, and for their ability to offer unique insight into important cultural and social issues.”
Since launching in The New York Times Magazine on Aug. 14, 2019, The 1619 Project has ignited vigorous debate among academics and the general public alike over its argument that racism and slavery are foundational — not incidental — to American history.
The initiative won awards for Hannah-Jones, including a 2020 Pulitzer Prize, and has expanded with a teaching guide, podcast, the nonfiction book “The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story,” the kids’ book “Born on the Water,” and most recently, a documentary series on Hulu.
The project’s longevity surprised even its author — as has the intense backlash, which has manifested in everything from historians disputing specific claims to politicians banning it from classrooms.
Far from being wary, Hannah-Jones wants to visit states like Virginia, where pushback to her work and the once-niche academic concept of critical race theory has evolved into broader fights over how history is taught in schools and access to books. She spoke in Arlington last year for “Banned Books Week.”
“It’s really important for me to go into places that are having these battles,” she told FFXnow. “Really, I see part of it as standing up for teachers and librarians and students’ right to learn, but of course, in a place like Virginia or a place like Fairfax County, or a place like Arlington, or really anywhere, we are daily seeing how the legacy of slavery is shaping lives, and people don’t often recognize that.”
Virginia plays a central role in The 1619 Project. In addition to harboring the first ship to carry enslaved Africans to the land that would become the U.S., Virginia enacted many of the first laws to institutionalize slavery and passed a Racial Integrity Act defining racial categories to prohibit miscegenation.
“Virginia in many ways is ground zero for everything else we see in America,” Hannah-Jones said.
The laws have been relegated to the past, but their consequences haven’t. For example, Fairfax County’s current housing challenges are partly the product of decades of discrimination.
The outcry over changes to Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology’s admissions policies echoes the area’s massive resistance to integration as a battle over “who should get access to the, quote-unquote, best public schools in the community,” according to Hannah-Jones.
While Sunday’s talk at The Alden (1234 Ingleside Avenue) won’t include book signings, Hannah-Jones says she’s looking forward to the Q&A portion as an opportunity to hear from the community — and judging by the lengthy waitlist, McLean residents are equally eager to hear from her.
“A lot of times, the people who oppose the teaching of these histories, who support these divisive concept laws and book bans get a lot of attention, but I don’t think they represent most Americans,” she said. “The fact that there are so many people who want to engage with these ideas and have thoughtful conversations about them is very heartening.”
Fairfax County police found as many as 50 flyers advertising a white supremacist hate group around McLean yesterday morning (Thursday).
Officers from the McLean Police District responded to “numerous reports of suspicious flyers” in multiple residential neighborhoods in western McLean, the Fairfax County Police Department said.
“Homeowners alerted officers to sealed plastic bags containing a propaganda flyer weighted with bird seed on their property,” the FCPD said. “Police have recovered 40-50 flyers throughout the neighborhoods. Detectives are working to determine the origin of these flyers.”
Police believe preliminarily that the flyers were distributed randomly.
At least one of the flyers appeared to be attempting to recruit residents to the Loyal White Knights, a branch of the Ku Klux Klan that operates in North Carolina and Virginia, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
“Fairfax County taxpayers! ‘Wokers’ are playing you for fools! Evidently, tolerance does have a price — $60,000+,” said the flyer, which was shared with FFXnow by a resident who said they were found scattered along Churchill Road.
The flyer also featured a post office box and phone number for the Loyal White Knights.
“100% Americanism — pray for white Americans,” it said.
The FCPD is investigating the flyers as a “bias incident,” which it defines as an act that’s motivated by bias against an individual’s race, religion, ethnicity or nationality, disability or sexual orientation, but doesn’t constitute a crime.
Bias incidents can be considered violations of civil law.
“They become criminal acts only when they directly incite perpetrators to commit violence against persons or the destruction of property,” police said.
The KKK has targeted Fairfax County before, distributing about 30 flyers with antisemitic propaganda and disparaging comments about the Fairfax County School Board in Fairfax Station in June 2021. Antisemitic flyers were also found around Wolf Trap last February.
The FCPD is asking potential victims or witnesses to contact its detectives:
If you are the victim or witness of a Bias Crime or Incident in Fairfax County, please contact the FCPD at 911 (for in progress) or our non-emergency number at 703-691-2131. Anyone with information about this crime or who may have noticed anything suspicious is asked to please call our McLean Police station at 703-556-7750. To contact our detectives, please call our Organized Crime and Intelligence Bureau at 703-802-2750
FCPD Focuses on Stopping Teen Distracted Driving — “Police in Fairfax County…are ramping up traffic enforcement during distracted-driving month, partnering with schools to educate the most distracted drivers — teenagers…Officers have written 5,000 more citations and warnings to speeding and distracted drivers than this same time last year.” [WTOP]
Fire Department Adds Data Dashboard — “Our Fire and Rescue Department is constantly updating the ways it provides service to meet the needs of residents…The department launched RescueVision to provide real-time situational awareness and decision support at the 911 dispatch center.” It offers a look at service availability, transport locations and how coverage compares to other departments. [Fairfax County Government]
Fairfax Approves Funding for Supportive Housing — “Fairfax City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to approve a $700,000 appropriation to help fund the redevelopment of the Hy-Way Motel property on Fairfax Boulevard for permanent, supportive, low-income housing.” [Patch]
McLean Company Prepares to Go Public — “Cycurion Inc., a McLean cybersecurity solutions firm set to go public via a SPAC merger this year, has appointed a new CEO to guide it through its next phase of growth. Kevin Kelly, the former CEO of cybersecurity company Halo Privacy…has taken over the CEO role from Cycurion founder Emmit McHenry, who will remain chairman.” [DC Inno]
County Celebrates Black History Month Tonight — “To celebrate Black History Month, the Fairfax County Black History Program Committee, in partnership with Cox Communications, presents an evening celebration of Black history in Fairfax County. This family-friendly event is free and open to the public. Refreshments and resources tables will be available at 5:30 p.m.” [Neighborhood and Community Services]
Where to Celebrate George Washington’s B-Day — “It might be Presidents Day for the rest of the country, but in Virginia, the third Monday of February is George Washington Day, and there are plenty of celebrations around Northern Virginia to celebrate what would have been the first president’s 291st birthday.” [Inside NoVA]
Herndon Company Makes Forbes List — “For the second-year in a row, Deltek, which has its headquarters in Herndon, was recognized by Forbes Magazine as one of America’s Best Mid-Sized Employers…Deltek, a global provider of software and solutions for project-based businesses, is listed #229 among the 500 mid-sized businesses.” [Patch]
Fun Run Fundraiser Coming to Kingstowne — “The inaugural ConnerStrong Foundation You’re Not Alone 5k Fun Run will take place Saturday, March 25, starting at 7:30 a.m. at Kingstowne Shopping Center…The goal of the event is to raise awareness of the resources available in our community to support the lack of food and clothing that impacts many families and individuals in Fairfax County.” [Fairfax County Government]
It’s Friday — Rain in the morning and afternoon. High of 68 and low of 36. Sunrise at 6:58 am and sunset at 5:49 pm. [Weather.gov]
Before he helped oversee the Washington Nationals’ rise from cellar dwellers to World Series champions, Ted Lerner was busy building Tysons.
The real estate developer who transformed rural farmland into Fairfax County’s urban center died Sunday (Feb. 12) at the age of 91 in his Chevy Chase, Maryland, home. The cause was complications from pneumonia, as first reported by the Washington Post.
As founder and principal of Lerner Enterprises, Lerner laid the groundwork for Tysons by establishing Tysons Corner Center — now one of the biggest and busiest malls in the D.C. area — and the nearby Tysons II development. This work made him a visionary in the eyes of those now charged with shaping the area’s future.
“Ted Lerner was a visionary who laid a foundation for a mixed use Tysons Center which is now continuing to evolve into a dynamic urban community,” Tysons Community Alliance Chair Josh White said to FFXnow. “His contributions will continue on well into the future.”
In a memorial video from Lerner Enterprises, Lerner said his work in both real estate and baseball focused on “striving for excellence and building for future generations.”
“That way, it’s not about the properties at all. It’s about community. It’s about the future,” he said.
A native of D.C. and Army veteran, Theodore Lerner entered the real estate industry in 1951 with a $250 loan from his wife, painter and sculptor Annette Morris, according to a bio provided by the Nationals.
After initially getting a foothold in housing as a pioneer of concepts like model houses and centralized sales, he turned to the retail market with investments in Maryland’s Wheaton Plaza, which opened in 1960, and the land at the intersection of routes 7 and 123 then known as Tysons Corner.
When Lerner and fellow developer Gerald Halpin started building in Tysons, the area had little in the way of amenities beyond a corner store and a beer joint amid dairy farms and fruit orchards, according to the Post. That changed with the arrival of the Capital Beltway in 1961 and Dulles International Airport in 1962.
In a heated battle for control, the developer team of Lerner, Homer Gudelsky and H. Max Ammerman beat Baltimore banker James Rouse to get the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors’ approval for its $20 million plan to build a shopping center on 85 acres on the northeast side of the crossroads.
Tysons Corner Center opened in 1968 to quick success with an initial focus on local businesses, the Post reported in an extensive 1988 profile.
“When Tysons was still an apple orchard, he understood the potential for population growth and the demand for retail that would follow,” Fairfax County Economic Development Authority president and CEO Victor Hoskins said. “He predicted the emergence and value of enclosed malls which were a new concept at the time and helped transform Tysons into a predominant retail cluster in the Mid-Atlantic region.”
The history of Tysons II is a bit more complex. While the Tysons Corner Center team collectively bought the land in 1963, the site stayed untouched through the 1970s due to some internal disputes, including over Lerner’s push for a bigger stake.
Lerner ultimately acquired the 117 acres owned by Gudelsky and Ammerman in 1982 with a $35 million bid at a “tense courtroom auction,” according to the Nationals. It was a record price for land in the D.C. suburbs at the time.
Tysons II was cemented by the opening of Tysons Galleria in 1988 and now also boasts The Ritz-Carlton hotel and 10 office buildings, known collectively as the Corporate Office Centre at Tysons II.
Approved for approximately 6.8 million square feet of mixed-use development, per the Tysons Comprehensive Plan, the 11-acre district is still being built out. Lerner Enterprises announced plans just last year for a 21-story office building at 1725 Tysons Blvd.
Though Lerner and his partners sold Tysons Corner Center in 1985, the mall remains indebted to them for putting Tysons on the map, according to Macerich Corp., which took over the shopping center in 2005.
Macerich Executive Vice President of Asset Management Cory Scott called Lerner “an early visionary and a consistent champion for Tysons” in a statement to FFXnow:
As the original developer of Tysons Corner Center and much of the central Tysons area, Tysons would not be what it is today without Ted Lerner’s vision, foresight, and determination. His impact on the development of the Tysons community and the region is tremendous and will continue to be felt in the future as this area grows and evolves. He wanted so much for his hometown, for it to be a winner on a variety of fronts (real estate, community, philanthropy, sports. More importantly, he and his family have given so much to the region. There aren’t many like Ted Lerner and he will certainly be missed.
Lerner Enterprises didn’t directly address its future direction in the wake of its founder’s passing, but it noted in a message that Lerner’s legacy will continue through his family, many members of which have leadership or advisory roles in the company.
“Mr. Lerner often remarked that he could never have imagined that his small company would reach such heights, and told friends and family that his life had exceeded his wildest expectations,” the developer said. “He will be greatly missed by all of us at Lerner.”
(Updated at 3:50 p.m.) The family of the man who died after being dragged by a Metro train at the Dunn Loring station yesterday (Wednesday) has launched a Gofundme to cover their memorial service expenses.
The man has been identified as 50-year-old Harold Riley by one of his daughters, according to reports by FOX5 and NBC4, which say that he had two daughters and four grandchildren.
The daughter, who organized the fundraiser, told FOX5 that her dad’s dog, Daisy, is a service animal and was wearing a service animal vest when her leash got caught in the doors of the train — contradicting the Metro Transit Police Department’s statement that the dog “does not appear to be a service animal.”
“We tragically lost my father today in a train accident. As he was exiting the train the doors closed while his service dog was still inside. The train took off and my father was taken with it,” the Gofundme page says. “We want to raise money to be able to have a nice service and have him cremated. My father loved his grand children and his dog more than anything and he was such an amazing ‘PanPaw.'”
The fundraiser has a set goal of $3,000.
The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority confirmed this afternoon that Daisy is indeed a service dog in a statement first reported by NBC4’s Adam Tuss.
“The dog found by MTPD officers, now identified as Daisy, had a sweater vest on when she was initially found, covering a harness that read service dog,” a spokesperson said. “Again, we send our condolences and sympathies to the family of Mr. Riley.”
Just this morning, WMATA told FFXnow that its police department “found the dog without ID and did not find any vest or markers to indicate the dog was a service animal.”
In a statement yesterday, Metro Police said they received a report shortly before 1:30 p.m. that a person had been hit by a train at the Dunn Loring station.
Based on the preliminary investigation, Riley had exited the train, but the doors closed on his dog’s leash before the animal was able to deboard. When the train started moving, Riley got pulled along the platform and onto the tracks.
Riley was transported to a hospital, where he died. Daisy was found unharmed on the train at the West Falls Church Metro station.
The police department said the train operator had conducted two “safe door checks” before moving the vehicle.
