Changes to the Fairfax County Comprehensive Plan, approved by the Board of Supervisors this past Tuesday, should make it easier to find new uses for the county’s vacant storefronts.

The new plan allows for a broader definition of retail and related commercial uses in both repurposing existing buildings and for unbuilt, planned retail spaces. In other words, businesses that are not strictly stores or restaurants will find it easier to move into vacant retail spaces.

The changes add new language throughout the land use portion of the Comprehensive Plan that allows greater flexibility in achieving certain objectives, particularly in cases where the conversion does not significantly impact the building form and footprint.

The plan points to several national trends for options to replace conventional retail:

• Experiential/Entertainment Uses — Retail focused around selling an experience. The Launch Trampoline Park in Herndon, which was converted from a vacant Sears, is cited as a local example.
• Downsizing — Retail formerly occupying a larger space reducing their scale and converting the remaining space to a different use. The former two-story Sears in Fair Oaks Mall was cited as a local example, which was reduced to one floor while the upper floor was converted into an eating area. The Sears was permanently closed in August.
• Lifestyle Retail — Specialty retail with a focus on walkable communities. The Mosaic District is cited as a local example.
• Curated Retail — Stores targeting a niche market. These are often online enterprises starting to establish physical locations like Warby Parker, a glasses retailer with a store in Tysons Corner Center mall.
• Arts and Cultural Uses — Theaters, concert halls and cinemas that can anchor other nearby retail establishments, like the Showplace Icon scheduled to open in The Boro.
• Creative Spaces — These are locations like business incubators and maker places, where individuals can collaborate on projects using shared tools.
• Local Warehousing and Distribution Centers — Retail spaces converted into storage for the distribution of products, a trend increasingly necessary with the rise of online sales.

Outside of conversion to other retail spaces, the changes could allow vacant retail to more easily be converted into uses like medical care facilities, community colleges, or craft breweries.

There are 35.7 million square feet of retail and commercial space in Fairfax, with 75 percent located in hubs with planned future growth like Tysons and Merrifield. Tysons, Merrifield and McLean, fortunately, have fairly low vacancy rates — all below the metro area’s 4 percent rate.

One of the primary victims of the languishing retail market is neighborhood shopping centers, often anchored by a grocery store. In Fairfax, one in five has empty storefronts.

In March, similar changes were approved for transitioning suburban offices into other uses.

Every week the Eli Residential Group scours our network for off-market and pre-market homes to give home buyers and investors access to properties they can’t find anywhere else online. If you are interested in a property you see here or have specific needs you cannot find on the market, please reach out to us at [email protected] to talk to a real person, not an automated response system.

If you are a homeowner, investor, builder or agent who would like your off-market or pre-market property featured for a half million local readers on PoPville, ARLnow or Tysons Reporter, please email us at [email protected].

New 3 BR Penthouse Condo in Arlington
1245 N Pierce Street
Arlington, VA 22209

Description: Two separate 3 BR/2 BA penthouse units in brand new luxury 12-unit condo building near the Rosslyn neighborhood in Arlington. Both penthouse units have ~500 sq. ft. private roof deck with wide-open views. Building includes six 2 BR/2 BA and six 3 BR/2 BA units. All include parking, luxury finishes and low condo fees.
Price: $900’s
Courtesy of RLAH Real Estate

To view all of our off-market or pre-market properties, visit the off-market section of our website. We add new properties every week.

The Eli Residential Group is a real estate team with RLAH Real Estate, (703) 390-9460, operating in Virginia, Washington D.C., and Maryland. Contact the team directly at [email protected].

This regularly-scheduled sponsored Q&A column is written by Val Sotillo, Northern Virginia-based Realtor and Falls Church resident. Please submit your questions to her via email for response in future columns. Enjoy!

Question: My neighbor is mowing a portion of the lawn I thought was mine, but my neighbor claims it is his. Is this something I can prove through my title work?

Answer: Clients often ask me whether or not they should purchase a property survey, which is optional, when they buy their home. I think that in almost every case it is worth the relatively small investment (usually about $300-$400 for a standard survey).

I was recently chatting with Liz Wasserman of Universal Title, one of a small group of excellent title companies in Northern Virginia (they also serve D.C. and MD) and one of the few I recommend to clients. She shared a story with me about a client who did not order a survey and ended up incorrectly assuming that a section of land was theirs.

Given how frequently I am asked about ordering surveys, I thought it was a good opportunity for Liz to share the story and provide some reasons why it’s a good idea to order a survey when you buy a home. Take it away Liz…

A new homeowner noticed a neighbor mowing part of her front lawn. When she asked the neighbor why he was mowing her lawn, the neighbor replied the property he was mowing belonged to him, even though the line of trees separating the two houses looked as if the property belonged to the new homeowner.

She called her title agent and found out the neighbor was correct. “How can that be? Didn’t you search my property?”

Unfortunately, the new homeowner did not understand the difference between a title search and a survey and failed to purchase a survey. A title search confirms ownership of property, but it does not show the details of the property location.

What Is a Survey?                  

A survey is a map of real property that shows where the property is located on the earth, the boundary lines of the property, the improvements on the land and access to the property.

Five Great Reasons to Purchase a Survey

1. Undisclosed rights and easements: You may own your new home and its surrounding land, but someone else might have a right to use a portion of your property. A survey will show physical evidence of the rights of others to use your property for access, parking, utilities and other situations.
2. Undiscovered encroachments: A survey may be the only way to tell if a third party holds a claim to part of your property because their improvements such as a garage, fence or swimming pool are on your land.
3. House built on incorrect lot: It may seem impossible, but sometimes a house is built on the wrong lot. A survey provides peace of mind by showing the exact location of the house you are buying.
4. Size of the property: A survey shows the exact dimensions of the property’s boundary lines and how much land is included within those lines.
5. Adding on in the future: Many residential platted lots have building restrictions known as setbacks which prohibit building anything within a certain distance from the boundary lines. If you are thinking of adding on in the future, a survey will help you determine if the property is right for both your current and future plans.

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(Updated at 5 p.m.) It’s fair to say that the Tysons of today might not look the same without Gerry Gordon.

To get some perspective on how much Fairfax has changed since Gordon took over the Fairfax County Economic Development Task Force (FCEDA), these black-and-white satellite pictures of Tysons were taken one year after he became President and CEO of the group in 1987. While there was development, the area was not the metropolis it has become today.

At the end of the year, Gordon will step down from that long-held position and accept a post as a fellow in the College of Charleston in South Carolina.

On Thursday, Nov. 1, the Greater McLean Chamber of Commerce will host a celebration of Gordon’s legacy in Fairfax with support from other select Fairfax Chambers of Commerce. Tickets to the event are $40 for chamber members or $50 for non-members, which includes admission, appetizers and one drink ticket. Event sponsorship tickets are also available for $75. The event will run from 5:30-7 p.m. in the Tower Club (8000 Towers Crescent Drive) in Tysons.

The event is hosted at the center of a region Gordon was instrumental in helping to transform. Some of the largest names plastered across the top of Tysons skyscrapers — Booz Allen, SAIC, Hilton, Capital One, etc — were in part brought to the area by the work of the FCEDA. Recently, Tysons was chosen over the District of Columbia as the expansion choice for KPMG LLC, an auditing firm that will occupy seven floors of The Boro.

The FCEDA, under Gordon’s leadership, works internationally to market Fairfax as a business destination. Since the early 1980s, Fairfax County has grown from 32 million square feet of office space to 117 million, the second largest suburban office market in the nation behind Orange County.

FCEDA is funded by the Fairfax County government. The group is headquartered in Tysons but has locations in Bangalore, London, Los Angeles, Berlin, Seoul and Tel Aviv.

Outside of the business expansions, Gordon has also helped the group build bridges with other regional groups. The FCEDA facilitated the creation of the Multicultural Chamber Alliance, a collaboration of the Virginia Hispanic Chamber and Asian American Chamber of Commerce in Tysons along with the Northern Virginia Black Chamber of Commerce in the Mount Vernon area. Earlier this year, Gordon led the groups in signing an even closer agreement of collaboration.

Photo via Facebook

Laura Schwartz is a licensed Realtor in VA, D.C. and MD with McEnearney Associates in McLean. Reach the office at 703-790-9090.

Looking for mommy friends or friends for your little one? Look no further! There’s a group for that.

If you live in 22180, 22182, 22182, 22027 (Dunn Loring) and 22124 (Oakton) you can join the robust Vienna Moms group for $30 per year.

The group has a very active Facebook Page where members post questions ranging from child topics, vendors for various services and a gamut of other topics. Vienna Moms also provides a range of benefits:

• Playgroups
• Kids social events
• Larger scale playdates (i.e. seasonal crafts)
• Monthly events (magicians, musicians and traveling petting zoo)
• Moms night out (sometimes free exercise classes, other times drinks at a local restaurant)
• Speaker series (self defense, parenting experts, 529 and financial planners)
• Philanthropy
• Book club/other clubs for moms

The current headcount is around 900 members.

In the infancy stage, there is a developing Vienna Dads group as well. Currently organized via a Facebook Group, I’m sure they’d love some new members!

If you’re in McLean, you can join the McLean Moms Club and their closed Facebook page. Zip code requirements include moms living in 22101, 22102, 22106, 22107, 22108, 22109, 22182, 22066 and 22027. The group offers amenities similar to the Vienna Moms group as well as an online marketplace (think: very local Craigslist).

I’m currently a member of the Vienna Moms group and things I’ve loved from the group:

• Hearing Rachel Bailey, a LCSW and parenting expert, talk about handling meltdowns from your kids and how to keep yourself in check.
• I helped sponsor a “HandyMOM 101” event with Moss Building and Design where they brought in excerpts to talk about design trends when renovating or building your home.
• Trying out new exercise places in town like Spin, Pure Barre and Orange Theory, usually for free!
• The friendships! Some of my closest friends I’ve met through Vienna Moms, and some businesses too (for example, the woman who did my new logo is a fellow Vienna Mom who owns Tangible Designs).

I highly encourage you to look into the groups both for yourself as well as your kids.

This is a sponsored column by attorneys John V. Berry and Kimberly H. Berry of Berry & Berry, PLLC, an employment and labor law firm located in Plaza America in Reston that specializes in federal employee, security clearance, retirement and private sector employee matters.

By John V. Berry, Esq.

Many individuals come to us when they receive a document referred to as a Statement of Reasons (SOR) which federal agencies issue to individuals when considering the denial of their security clearance. An SOR can be issued to federal employees or government contractors currently holding or seeking a security clearance.

What is a Statement of Reasons?

A SOR lists the factual basis for potentially denying an individual’s security clearance. The SOR will list individual security concerns and provide the individual an ability to formally respond.

Typically, a federal agency will issue the SOR to the individual following the development of a security clearance concern. Subsequently, this security concern will be reviewed by the federal agency’s security office and either be cleared or proceed formally through the clearance adjudication process.

The SOR is the key document to analyze when attempting to avoid an adverse security clearance decision. For federal employees, agencies will generally attach the SOR to a cover letter that references the agency’s intent to revoke eligibility for the employees’ security clearance and provide it directly to the employee. For government contractors, the government will typically issue the SOR through the employer’s security officer.

The following is an example of a SOR issued for a federal employee based on personal conduct:

STATEMENT OF REASONS

Guideline E, Personal Conduct: Conduct involving questionable judgment, lack of candor, dishonesty, or unwillingness to comply with rules and regulations can raise questions about an individual’s reliability, trustworthiness, and ability to protect classified or sensitive information. Of special interest is any failure to cooperate or provide truthful and candid answers during national security investigative or adjudicative processes.

1. a. On September 26, 2018 after a fellow employee accused you of theft in the office you engaged in aggressive physical conduct towards him and were subsequently detained by law enforcement.
2. On September 27, 2018 you falsely recorded the amount of hours you worked on your weekly time sheet.
3. On October 23, 2018, you lied to investigators when you falsely stated that you worked all of the hours you claimed on your weekly time sheet on September 27, 2018.

How to Respond to a SOR

If an individual receives a SOR, the key for a potential successful defense involves being able to refute the specific factual allegations or to mitigate them. This process begins with hiring an attorney to assist the individual in their response.

In the example above, since it is often the case that mistakes are made in SOR’s or that information is outdated, the first step is to determine from the individual whether the allegations themselves are true, i.e. whether they actually engaged in physical conduct, falsely recorded hours on their time sheet and/or was truthful with investigators during the investigation.

Accordingly, if the facts turn out to be true, the next task is to find out what mitigating factors could be helpful in explaining why the person should still be granted a security clearance.

To do this, one must review the National Security Adjudicative Guidelines for potential conditions that can mitigate the corresponding security concerns. Additionally, the Whole-Person Concept provides overall mitigation factors for security clearance matters.

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Every week the Eli Residential Group scours our network for off-market and pre-market homes to give home buyers and investors access to properties they can’t find anywhere else online. If you are interested in a property you see here or have specific needs you cannot find on the market, please reach out to us at [email protected] to talk to a real person, not an automated response system.

If you are a homeowner, investor, builder or agent who would like your off-market or pre-market property featured for a half million local readers on PoPville, ARLnow or Tysons Reporter, please email us at [email protected].

Newer Townhouse in Mosaic District
2900 Block Penny Lane
Fairfax, VA 22031

Description: 4 BR/3.5 BA four-level 1,600 sq. ft. townhouse with beautiful finishes in Mosaic District. Built in 2014 and includes large rooftop deck, garage parking, open floor plan and ample guest parking. Situated on quiet street and surrounded by open space for tons of natural light. Available 2019.
Price: Upper $700’s

To view all of our off-market or pre-market properties, visit the off-market section of our website. We add new properties every week.

The Eli Residential Group is a real estate team with RLAH Real Estate, (703) 390-9460, operating in Virginia, Washington D.C., and Maryland. Contact the team directly at [email protected].

What does the Tysons of 2050 look like?

Tysons 2050, an event hosted by the Tysons Regional Chamber of Commerce yesterday at the Tysons Hilton (7920 Jones Branch Drive), brought technology experts across the region together to discuss how trends in cyber-security and AI will impact Tysons.

Rodney Lusk, director of National Marketing for Fairfax County Economic Development Authority, says the County expects 200,000 jobs in the Tysons area and 100,000 residents by 2050.

This growth will continue to spur development, which is well underway in various corners of Tysons. The View, a 3 million-square-foot mixed-use building planned for Tysons, is planned to be 600 feet tall, dwarfing the 470-foot Capital One Tower that currently claims the title of tallest in the region.

As Tysons moves forward, Lusk says there are certain elements beyond just office space and retail needed to make the area more than just a commuter hub. For instance, Lusk said, Tysons will need to have at least two performing arts centers in the area and a research university.

Paul McNeal, the co-founder of CryptoMarket360, said the future Tysons will look like something out of science-fiction.

“If you’ve seen Minority Report or Demolition Man,” said McNeal, “that’s where Tysons is headed in 2050.”

McNeal envisions technology driving Tysons towards a “frictionless society” with interactive ads based on user data and self-driving cars.

But as Tysons moves into the future, one of the main discussions centered on how new technology will also present challenges and opportunities for Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS).

“The student to teacher ratio is going to be 200 to one,” said George Strawn, former National Science Foundation CIO. “But that’s carbon-based teachers. Everyone will have their own silicon tutor.”

Not everyone who spoke saw the future so starkly different as today.

Tarun Upaday, founder of Gallop.ai, said that the artificial intelligence in classrooms will be used more to complement the teachers rather than replace them. Upaday pointed to the current status of chess championships, where the top teams are not brilliant chess players or supercomputers, but fusions of the two that beat solely computers or solely human teams every time.

Upaday also said the work of Pindar Van Arman, whose machine artists were recently on display at Tysons Corner Center, represented what man and machine can accomplish working in harmony.

Falls Church-based education specialist Tosin Adetoro said artificial intelligence can also be used to support student populations that often fall through the cracks of the education system. In particular, Adetoro said personalized AIs have been found to be very helpful for students on the autism spectrum.

Jay Garant, director of Business and Community Partnerships at FCPS, emphasized that as valuable an asset as AI will be, it can’t replace teachers. As students begin to spend more and more of their lives staring at their phone screens, Garant said schools will be critical in teaching empathy.

“When kids begin to fail, they are more likely to [positively interact] with a human than anything else,” said Garant. “That won’t go away.”

The McLean Islamic Center (MIC) will be returning to the Fairfax County Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) on Nov. 14 in an effort to overturn earlier restrictions on worship hours and attendance.

The MIC, the only Islamic center in the Tysons/McLean area, was granted a special permit in 2015 to operate as a house of worship at 8800 Jarrett Valley Dr.

But the authorization also came with restrictions to mitigate the MIC’s impact on the surrounding neighborhood.  The MIC was prohibited from having more than ten worshipers at its pre-dawn prayer service and no group worship between 4-7 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Since then, the facility and the roads surrounding it have grown. The MIC has expanded the parking lot from 52 to 92 spaces to facilitate a prayer hall with a 200 person capacity. Route 7 has been widened and its turn lanes lengthened.

Now the MIC is hoping the BZA will amend the conditions to allow 24-hour operation of the facility and lift the restriction on parking.

“[The restrictions] are untenable,” said Dr. Sultan Chaudhry, president of the MIC Board of Directors. “We’re not allowed to have more than ten people for morning prayer service. But sometimes 20 or 25 come… we’ve never had more than 40, but you don’t RSVP for the prayer.”

Chaudhry said the number of attendees to morning prayer spikes during holidays or when there’s a death in the community.

“At the end of the day, we have 92 spots,” said Chaudhry. “So telling the eleventh person they can’t park there when we have 92 spaces, is hard.”

But a staff report from Sept. 26 recommended denial of the application pending further documentation on the site’s impact on the surrounding community. According to the staff report:

“Staff’s review determined that the applicant’s request could negatively impact the surrounding neighborhood in terms of noise and light from the parking area, since the possibility of groups arriving at and leaving the Center at all hours of the day could create incidental noise (such as from car alarms, car locking systems, or conversations held outside).”

A noise study, prepared by MIC, is under review by county staff.

The report also noted that concerns had been raised about access to the property from the congested Jarrett Valley Drive/Leesburg Pike intersection. Fairfax County Department of Transportation reviewed the project and said the overall impact on the intersection would be minimal, while the Virginia Department of Transportation’s (VDOT) analysis is pending.

The Carrington Home Owners Association had been vocal about the concerns for the increased traffic and light pollution issues at the original MIC approval in 2015. The association could not be reached for comment, but concerns about traffic at the site have been an ongoing issue.

Earlier this year, an anonymous complaint was made to the county that there were more than 10 vehicles in the parking lot during a morning prayer service. An investigation by the County found the MIC in violation, after which the MIC suspended its morning prayer service.

But Chaudhry said that neighbors will have to recognize that the surrounding area is growing. Chaudhry pointed to a VDOT study in 2015 that showed that there as an average of 61,000 cars traveling on Route 7 every day even before the road was expanded.

“This is Tysons,” said Chaudhry. “In the last four years, the four tallest buildings [in the region] have been built.”

Recently, there was a death in the MIC community. Chaudhry said when the MIC was helping to plan a prayer service for the family, he was also working to keep the number of mourners low.

“I had to contact the family and tell them not to publicize it on our listserv for fear that we might have more than 80 vehicles show up,” said Chaudhry. “We had a death and our top concern was traffic.”

Photo via Facebook

When Tysons Reporter posted polls on Facebook and on our website last week asking whether Tysons was a fun place to go out at night, the answers were… not great for the area.

Only 6.5 percent of responders at the website said Tysons has an active nightlife, though 56.2 percent said it’s starting to get better. While the “getting better” number is encouraging, the overwhelming lack of satisfaction is a sign that Tysons still has some rough spots to work out as it tries to morph into “America’s Next Great City.”

A notable bright spot, according to several Facebook commenters said, was the Tysons Biergarten.

Commenters described the Biergarten as the kind of casual and affordable late-night activities the area needed more of, so we reached out to Biergarten owner Matt Rofougaran to get his thoughts on the current state of local nightlife and how to make it better.

Rofougaran was a managing partner with Washington, D.C. nightlife hotspots like Ultrabar for years and was eager to move that scene to where he grew up: Tysons. But when the Biergarten started two and a half years ago, Rofougaran said there local nightlife scene was scarce.

“There was none,” said Rofougaran. “You had no real place for nightlife unless you wanted to sit in a bar or restaurant, and that’s not everyone’s scene.”

Rofougaran said the late-night locales in the area catered to specific interests, like the now-closed international hookah bar Babalu and Iris Lounge, which catered to an older, wealthier crowd.

“The difference with Tysons Biergarten was we were aiming for all ages,” said Rofougaran. “You can be 21 or you can be 65. That was our main aim and focus.”

Fast forward to today and Rofougaran says the nightlife scene has hardly improved. Tysons Biergarten and the nearby Greenhouse Bistro are two of the only thriving late-night spots in Tysons, but Rofougaran said their popularity is mainly because they’re one of the few options available, not an indicator of market interest for late-night activities.

“A lot of people leave here,” said Rofougaran. “They’re done with their job at 6:30 or 7 p.m. and they go home. They don’t come back. If they want to go out, they go to Arlington. If we had ten places here open late night, all of them would sink. They would all be empty. There isn’t that crowd of people that want to go out at night in Tysons.”

Andrew Taherzadeh, digital communications manager for Fairfax County Economic Development Authority, reiterated that Greenhouse is a popular hub of activity on Friday or Saturday evenings, but that aside he admitted that local late-night entertainment is sparse.

“Currently nightlife in Tysons is minimal,” said Taherzadeh. “That should change in the upcoming years with new development.”

New late-night options are coming in with developments like The Boro, which will also bring with it more housing — crucial for making Tysons a more vibrant place at night and not just a daytime destination for workers. But Rofougaran says nightlife in Tysons faces an uphill battle against the more entrenched establishments in Arlington and the more lax alcohol laws in Washington, D.C.

“In D.C., you can be open until 3 a.m.,” Rofougaran said. “Here, we do last-call at 1:30 a.m. and our doors are locked and closed by 2 a.m.”

But like Taherzadeh and 56.2 percent of Tysons Reporter’s readership, Rofougaran said it’s going to get better.

“Tysons is heading that way, it’s just not there yet,” said Rofougaran. “In another five years, it’ll be a different story. It just takes time.”

Photo via Facebook