An upcoming meeting will provide the latest information on the Founders Row development currently underway in Falls Church.
Mill Creek Residential’s mixed-use development plans to have more than 300 luxury apartments and more than 90,000 square feet of retail, including a 4,693-square-foot Studio Movie Grill and a 9,476-square-foot City Works Eatery and Pour House.
According to Mill Creek Residential:
Modera Founders Row will consist of 322 studio, one- and two-bedroom homes contained within five stories with an average square footage of 940 and den/office layouts available. A separate age-restricted community will feature an additional 72 luxury homes reserved for adults 55 years and older. Shared community amenities will include a resident clubhouse with connected business center, library, game room, kitchen and bar, two 24-hour club-quality fitness studios, pet spa, hotel-inspired pool, outdoor social area featuring grills and fire pits, self-serve package lockers, coffee bar and controlled-access garage parking.
Additionally, some of the apartments include quartz countertops, wine refrigerators and private balconies and patios.
Located at the corner of W. Broad and N. West streets, Founders Row broke ground in February, Patch reported. The 4-acre site was once home to a Sunoco gas station, 7-Eleven and several small businesses.
The meeting is set for 5 p.m. next Wednesday (June 12) at the MCR construction trailer on the construction site, located near the old 7-Eleven.
Rendering and maps via JBG Smith
New plans are on the way to fix traffic on the Dolley Madison Corridor between Tysons and McLean.
The Fairfax County Department of Transportation (FCDOT) and Dranesville District Supervisor John Foust are planning a meeting next Thursday (June 13) at 7 p.m. in the McLean Community Center (1234 Ingleside Avenue) to discuss the new “Dolley Madison Corridor Study.” According to the meeting description:
The purpose of the study is to analyze Dolley Madison Boulevard between the Dulles Toll Road and Old Dominion Drive and recommend solutions to improve traffic conditions. The team will present a variety of options with traffic model analysis and is looking for feedback from the public on the short-term and long-term improvements presented.
A Fairfax County Transportation status report from February said that four local intersections are being evaluated to understand how changes to one impact the others.
- Dolley Madison Boulevard, Great Falls Street and Lewinsville Road intersection
- Dolley Madison Boulevard and Old Dominion Drive intersection
- Great Falls Street and Chain Bridge Road intersection
- Balls Hill Road and Lewinsville Road intersection
Robin Geiger, head of communications for FCDOT, also said the intersections of Dolley Madison Boulevard and Ingleside Avenue and the intersection of Old Dominion Drive and Ingleside Avenue are being considered. Geiger said staff evaluated short term solutions that could be implemented to benefit traffic over the next 10 years.
The status report noted that FCDOT staff presented scenarios to Foust’s office and they were asked to look at more long-term solutions as well. Geiger said FCDOT are considering longer-term solutions for the Great Falls Street/Lewinsville Road intersection with Dolley Madison Boulevard near Tysons and the intersection with Old Dominion Drive.
The specific solutions being proposed are not presently available, but Geiger said a website for the project is planned to be launched soon and community feedback will be gathered at the June 13 meeting.
The new tenant at 1389 Chain Bridge Road isn’t attracting nearly as much controversy as the last one — the Nova Firearms gun store.
Boss Design Center is a local remodeling agency. The headquarters and showroom in downtown McLean feature displays for various kitchen and bathroom remodeling options along with a very friendly cat.
The company’s website said the company also does basement finishing and room additions.
“As our name implies at Boss Design Center, we take a keen interest in the entire design process from drawing board to completion,” according to the company’s website. “We have great ideas to help you realize your remodeling dreams from that room addition to the ultimate kitchen remodeling; we bring 10 years of experience to the design table and construction site.”
The company offers an initial complimentary consultation, followed by design and development stages where the company works with craftsmen to install cabinetry, appliances and other remodeling needs.
Boss Design operates in Maryland, D.C. and Northern Virginia.
The McLean Project for the Arts’ “Strictly Painting” exhibit returns this weekend for its 12th year.
“We are delighted to once again honor and showcase the astounding wealth of talented painters working in the mid-Atlantic region,” MPA Exhibitions Director Nancy Sausser said in a press release.
This year, gallery visitors can see artwork from 57 artists.
Adah Rose Bitterbaum, the owner and director of the Adah Rose Gallery in Maryland, is the juror for this year’s exhibit.
The exhibit runs from June 8 to July 13 at 1446 Chain Bridge Road.
A free opening reception Saturday (June 8) will take place from 5-7 p.m.
Image via McLean Project for the Arts
Updated 4 p.m. — All Star Comic Con — a comic convention held at the Sheraton Tysons Hotel (8661 Leesburg Pike) — is coming back this weekend for its second year.
It’s not exactly Hall H of San Diego Comic-Con, but there are some big names coming to town, and like last year, plenty of other activities are scheduled.
The convention is set for June 8 and 9. Tickets are $35 for a two-day pass or $99 for a pass with “front of the line privileges” and admission to an evening gala.
While many conventions today have swung more toward general pop culture, co-founder Michael McNutt told Tysons Reporter All-Star very much goes back to the roots of comic conventions with a focus on comic books. Two of the biggest names at the convention this year are Tom King, a D.C. area local who won the Eisner Award last year for best writer, and Gail Simone, a writer with a long body of work at Marvel and DC comics.
“Last year, we tried to hit all points,” McNutt said. “You stretch yourself out and end up being a B-student because you spread out. We wanted to focus on comic books this year.”
While there was a smattering of gaming aspects at the convention last year, McNutt said he’s worked to double down on that this year and implement more gaming media into the convention.
If last year was any indication, cosplay will play a big part in this year’s convention, especially with Saturday night’s cosplay competition.
“We want people walking out of there embracing new fandoms,” McNutt said. “It’s all brand new to me… Cosplay was one thing in the last year I’ve gotten more and more into. I made my son an Iron Man helmet and arc reactor and made my other child a Kid Flash helmet.”
McNutt worked professionally in event directing for other companies and organizations but eventually wanted to host his own event. The event is smaller than some of the other comic conventions across the country, but McNutt said the hotel setting gives it a more intimate and personal touch.
“I put together different types of events, but I wanted to put one together for me,” McNutt said. “I love movies and comics, so I wanted to put one of these together. You don’t have to be Scrooge McDuck sitting in a tank full of money, it just takes a lot of dedication.”
For McNutt, his ultimate goal is for the convention to become more of a social group than just an annual event. The group also hosts a book club featuring local authors and meet-ups at breweries and other regional conventions.
“A lot of people are going to sit there and talk about the celebs and fun things, but our thing really is the community created through this,” McNutt said. “I’ve received emails about this and people have pulled us to the side — people who tell me they haven’t had the best of luck making friends… People who were like ‘I can’t find my place in this world’ now have a place.”
Photo via All Star Comic Con/Facebook
The Vienna Town Council delayed voting on the controversial 380 Maple Avenue redevelopment to allow the developers and residents more time to try to reach a consensus through a mediation process.
Some Vienna residents have argued that the four-floor, mixed-use building creates traffic, safety and scale issues that warrant the Vienna Town Council rejecting the proposal. Others have argued that the building could revitalize the downtown area.
After more than half of a dozen meetings and multiple changes by developer Dennis Rice, a mediation process started last month between the citizens and developers to see if they could achieve consensus on the project.
In an update to the Vienna Town Council on Monday (June 3), Ray Brill, a Vienna resident who offered to mediate the discussions, said that six neighbors and two developers met for two hours on May 28.
“We talked primarily about lowering the density and the height, and we offered a modification that might have a terrace effect so there wouldn’t be four floors from [the neighbors’] point of view,” Brill said.
Brill said that the two upcoming meetings on June 6 and June 13 should determine the fate of the project.
“It seems they made a good faith effort to discuss it,” Brill told the Town Council. “I think these two meetings should either decide that we can come to a compromise or we cannot.”
The Town Council decided to delay voting on the project to Monday, June 17, to allow time for the two scheduled mediation meetings.
“I’m practical and I don’t want to drag it out,” Brill said. “By the 13th, we will know one way or the other.”
Image via Town of Vienna
A new burger joint is coming to a Falls Church spot near Route 50.
BurgerIM says it’s “coming soon” to 6410 Arlington Blvd, Suite 196A on its list of locations.
Located near Seven Corners, the spot is located on the ground floor retail below the Loren apartment building. (Fun fact: the building is named after Falls Church resident and writer Loren Pope.)
Headquartered in California, the national chain spans 15 states and has plans to operate about 500 spots by the end of the year, according to its website.
The Falls Church spot is the first one in the Tysons area for the chain, which is opening other Northern Virginia locations in Herndon and South Riding.
Vienna is looking for a police station befitting a town with calls like a man missing his lawnmower keys.
The town is currently in the process of reviewing designs for a new police station at 215 S. Center Street. At a May 20 work session, the Town Council reviewed designs and costs for the project.
Much of the discussion about the station involved trying to give the station a “warm” and approachable feeling — particularly with part of the project focusing on making a community space at the station.
Some of this meant a review of the types of materials used in construction, with developers favoring brick to more intimidating concrete for some of the fences and the plaza.
“It doesn’t have to be a fortress to feel safe,” a designer for the project said.
Other parts of the design process focused on the scaling of the building, which has been a contentious topic in Vienna with locals fearing new commercial projects overshadowing the town’s neighborhood feeling. Designers at the meeting said they were favoring a design that didn’t feel as “large or looming” as other options.
Lynne Coan, communications and marketing manager for the Town of Vienna, said in an email that final renderings are likely incoming over the next few months.
A cost estimate included in the work session also priced the proposed police station at roughly $14.2 million.
Image via Dewberry
The McLean Citizens Association (MCA) could finally be weighing in tomorrow night regarding the group homes controversy, but the fight may already be over.
A draft resolution planned to be discussed at MCA’s Wednesday (June 5) meeting would oppose a special exception that would allow the Newport Academy, a for-profit therapy and rehabilitation program for teens, to open a facility at 1620, 1622 and 1624 Davidson Road, located in a residential neighborhood near McLean High School.
But the proposed resolution comes late in the game — local residents started protesting the issue more than two months ago.
A grassroots group opposing a rehabilitation facility recently claimed victory, although the sourcing for that win remains unclear.
An administrator on the Davidson and Kurtz Road Rehab Facility Facebook page — a nearly 500 member group that had been a discussion board for residents opposed to the development — said last Tuesday (May 28) he received the following statement from the Newport Academy:
Newport Academy is the nation’s leading provider of mental health residential and outpatient treatment for teens and young adults. As such, we have received direct requests from parents, clinicians, insurance companies and other referral sources to bring our well-recognized adolescent mental health treatment program to the Northern Virginia market. To that end, we acquired multiple properties to extend our reach more formally into the McLean community. Although these group homes are fully legal and protected under the Fair Housing Act, as well as other applicable federal, Virginia and Fairfax County laws, Newport Academy has listened to the community’s feedback and has opted to modify its expansion plans by ceasing planned openings on Davidson Road.
Our commitment to service the Northern Virginia market remains intact. We look forward to opening these much-needed services in McLean in the near future and hope to keep the lines of communication open with the community and its elected officials as we seek to contribute in a positive way towards addressing the mental health crisis in the greater DC area.
After repeated calls to the main company line and to the group’s community liaison in McLean over a week, Tysons Reporter was unable to confirm the source of the statement.
Staff at Dranesville District Supervisor John Foust’s office said they received an identical statement, but could not get confirmation from the Newport Academy that they were the source.
Two weeks ago, Fairfax County Zoning Administrator Leslie Johnson wrote in a letter that the facility would not be permitted as a by-right use and would require approval from the Board of Supervisors. Foust had previously said he would oppose the development if it was brought to the Board of Supervisors for a vote.
The Facebook group shut down one day after the statement allegedly from the Newport Academy was posted, though some members have already started another splinter group to continue discussing the facility and other community concerns.
What will happen with the other proposed group homes not addressed in Johnson’s letter — like the one at 1318 Kurtz Road — remains unclear. The MCA resolution states that the group will revisit the facts regarding the Kurtz Road property.
The MCA meeting starts at at 7 p.m. in the McLean Community Center (1234 Ingleside Avenue).
Fairfax County’s Board of Supervisors greenlighted funding for new streets and highway improvement projects in the Tysons area.
In total, the county’s board approved $55 million for transportation projects in Tysons and Reston today (June 4), with more than $51 million for Tysons-area roads.
The greenlighted funding includes:
- $17.5 million: I-66 widening at Route 29
- $16.6 million: State Street land acquisition
- $7 million: land acquisition for Leesburg Pike widening
- $759,000: pedestrian improvements along Lee Highway
The board also approved funding for preliminary engineering and feasibility studies:
- $7 million: Lincoln Street extension
- $1.5 million: Broad Street
- $1 million: Greensboro ramp to Dulles Toll Road
- $500,000: Tysons West Park Transit Center ramp to Dulles Toll Road
I-66 median widening at Route 29
Fairfax County originally approved endorsement of the I-66 median widening in March 2017. The cost estimate for the project, however, increased by $17,500,000 “due to [the] complexity of construction (e.g. shutting down lanes to install the center pier, number of detours, which creates a larger project footprint),” according to the county staff report.
Lee Highway pedestrian improvements
The street improvements would span Nutley Street to Vaden Drive by the Vienna/Fairfax-GMU Metro station, completing missing portions of bike and pedestrian areas. “This project will allow more commuters to make trips by biking, walking, and transit instead of driving, which will improve mobility not only on I-66, but also on the parallel facilities of Lee Highway and Route 50,” the staff report says.
Land acquisition for Leesburg Pike widening
Fairfax County staff want the $7 million for a partial land acquisition between I-495 and I-66 once the design work is done. After deciding to replace an existing gas line along Leesburg Pike, the Fairfax County Department of Transportation has been studying right-of-way and road alignment needs for this section of the highway that runs along the southern edge of Pimmit Hills.
Land acquisition for State Street
Envisioned in the future Tysons Grid of Streets, State Street would connect Greensboro Drive to Route 7 between Spring Hill Road and Westpark Drive.
Currently, the desired, vacant property is for sale, according to the staff report. “If the property is sold to another party and the existing building encumbered with a long-term lease, the cost of acquiring the property will increase significantly, and may become prohibitive,” the report says.
Preliminary engineering and feasibility studies
The Greensboro and Tysons West Park Transit Center ramps to the Dulles Toll Road are two of the three planned ramps that will provide a connection between downtown Tysons to the highway.
Meanwhile, Lincoln Street would connect Old Meadow Road to Magarity Road in Pimmit Hills. The new, two-lane road is meant to provide more access for residents.
Another new road — Broad Street — would run parallel to Route 7, providing access between Spring Hill and Tyco roads and offering an alternative to using Route 7.
The board also approved $3 million for construction to widen Telegraph Road at Hayfield Road in Alexandria and $500,000 for preliminary engineering and feasibility studies on improving the intersection of Reston Parkway and Baron Cameron Avenue.
The funding adjustments from the Tysons and Reston Transportation Service Districts and the Tysons Grid of Streets Road Fund will be made as part of the carryover review for fiscal year 2019, according to a staff report.
