For over a year, the One Tysons East project was one on a long list of plans in the works but without any firm timeline established.
But now, it seems the project is picking up steam. No staff report is available online yet, but the project is scheduled for a Planning Commission hearing on March 27 followed by a Board of Supervisors review on April 9.
The plans call for the addition of a towering glass office building to the corner lot at 1690 Old Meadow Road, featuring a distinctive curved glass design.
The project is planned to include 250,000 square feet of office space and 12,000 square feet of retail, part of the growing Tysons East network that includes the Scotts Run complex and the Capital One headquarters.
Image via Akridge
A man in the Tysons East area was arrested and charged with felony animal cruelty and other charges after police found evidence they believe indicates he killed his dog.
“The 41 year-old McLean man is facing four charges related to the death of his dog,” Fairfax County Police (FCPD) said in a press release. “Robert Hutchins was charged after officers were called to the 1600 block of Spring Gate Drive on Tuesday morning when residents reported a trail of blood leading to his apartment door.”
While performing a welfare check, FCPD said Hutchins was located with his deceased dog inside the apartment.
“Detectives and Animal Protection Officers were called to the scene to assist in the investigation,” the crime report continues. “Evidence was recovered implicating Hutchins’ involvement in the dog’s death.”
FCPD said the man was arrested the same day and charged with felony animal cruelty, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, possession of ammunition by a felon and firearm use in the commission of a felony. He is currently being held at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center without bond.
Police are asking that anyone who may have more information about the incident to contact Animal Protection Police Officer Enna Lugo at [email protected]
Photo courtesy Fairfax County Police Department
There are plans in the works for nearly every corner of Tysons East, and a distinctive curved glass building called “One Tysons East” is planned for a corner of Route 123 near the McLean Metro station.
“The proposed development of 1690 Old Meadow Road will fill in one of the final remaining pieces of developable property adjacent to the McLean Metro Station,” Fairfax County staff wrote in a report on the project. “The property is completely surrounded by… prior Tysons development approvals.”
To the north, across Route 123, is the sprawling Capital One development that was completed last month. The Scotts Run South development abuts the property on two sides. Working inside the tight confines of this space, the report says the proposed building is “a unique visual feature at a prominent location.”
The applicant, Akridge, proposes a single office tower on the property with ground floor retail accessible to pedestrians. The building designs show that it would be accessible from every frontage. Encouraging bicycle transit is a key part of the development proposal as well, with a bicycle storage room and changing rooms included in the design.
One Tysons East would include 250,000 square feet of office and 12,000 square feet of retail.
The property is currently a two-story brick building constructed in 1977, formerly a GEICO training facility, which will be demolished as part of the construction.
The building has been in the works since at least late 2015, when Akridge acquired the brick building. According to the Fairfax County government website, the development is still under review by county staff.
Space in the Kingston, one of the newest residential buildings in the growing Tysons East, is disappearing quickly.
Tysons has a residence deficiency, with roughly 100,000 jobs but only 19,000 residents. But the demand is there, with the 319-unit Kingston filling up faster than predicted in the project’s initial lease-up timeline. Currently, 44 percent of the building is leased.
A residential unit in Tysons isn’t cheap either. There are 64 workforce dwelling units on the site, housing required by the county to be set aside as affordable, but the market rate rents start at $2,000 per month for a studio apartment. Two bedroom units cost $3,200 per month and three bedroom units lease for approximately $5,200 per month.
A press release for the apartment community highlighted the “high-end events” regularly hosted by the property management.
Fresh off sidewalk improvements opening west of the Tysons Corner Center Mall, plans for bicycle and pedestrian improvements east of the mall just been approved and are moving forward towards a 2020 completion.
The new path would run along Old Meadow Road south from Route 123 through the rapidly redeveloping Tysons East to a bridge that would connect to the Tysons Corner Center mall.
The new path would offer a connection to the mall for the new residential and commercial developments proposed for the area. The project would also include a 10-foot shared-use path connected to other paths and sidewalks in the area.
“The project received design approval in December 2018,” said Abraham Lerner, associate manager of special project development with the Virginia Department of Transportation. “We are working on the final design… The main focus in the next two months is on advancing the engineering design of the pedestrian-bicycle bridge over the Beltway.”
Lerner said the final design process uses the alignments approved but with refinements and additional details to ensure the facility aligns with current standards.
According to Lerner, if the project continues as scheduled, VDOT will begin looking at right-of-way acquisition for the project starting in spring. Utility relocation is scheduled to run from November 2019 until April 2020, with construction from April to November 2020.
Images via VDOT
Tysons is getting too big for just one fire station.
The Fairfax Fire and Rescue Department is planning on constructing a new fire station to cover the growing Tysons East neighborhood.
The entire Tysons area is currently covered by Fire Station 29, which has become increasingly overburdened as new development adds new density and new challenges.
Laurie Stone, planning section manager for Fairfax County Fire and Rescue, said the station is currently in the design process.
Stone said the fire station is being designed and constructed by Cityline Partners LLC, the company backing the Scotts Run Station South development. Cityline agreed to build the new station in exchange for winning permission to construct the new mixed-use development adjacent to the McLean Metro station.
“The Scotts Run Fire and Rescue Station 44 is proposed to be a two-level, three-bay free standing fire station located on Old Meadow Lane,” Stone wrote in an email. “Cityline will substantially complete the fire station and deliver it to Fairfax County by December 31, 2020.”
According to the staff report, a new athletic field will also be built adjacent to the planned fire station to be opened within three years of the fire station opening.
(Updated 7:20 a.m.) Fairfax County Police say a pizza delivery driver was finishing up a delivery on Monday in the Gates of McLean neighborhood in Tysons East when he saw a man climb into the car and drive off.
According to a crime report, the theft took place around 10 p.m. The vehicle was unlocked with the keys in the ignition and the engine on while the delivery driver went up to the residence to drop off the food.
“While returning to his vehicle, he saw a man get in his car and drive off,” FCPD said.
“Officers found the car with the man sitting in the driver’s seat. Stolen property belonging to a resident that lived nearby was located inside of the vehicle as well,” said police. “Michael Louk, 47, no fixed address, was charged with auto theft, vehicle trespassing, and grand larceny.”
Photo courtesy Fairfax County Police Department
The 85 students from four Fairfax and Falls Church public schools expected to graduate yesterday from the Capital One Coders program at the Capital One headquarters in Tysons East. What they weren’t expecting were free laptops given away by the company to each of the graduates.
The Capital One Coders program trains local middle school students after school for ten weeks. Students learn the basics of programming and eventually work up to developing their own mobile applications.
Part of the surprise at the graduation was gifting each student their own laptop and giving a $10,000 grant to the schools for STEM education. The kids went home with the laptops, but the grants will go to the schools at the end of the spring semester.
“The coders program started in 2014,” said Jay Sanne, Vice President of Software Engineering for Capital One. “It is deployed in each of our major people centers. It’s had a great response from schools and associates.”
Sanne said the coders program is part of a commitment to building a 21st century workforce with technology skills.
Typically students develop games, although Sanne said the applications students build are often pretty sophisticated. Sanne noted there was one student early in the program who developed a mobile application to automate her family’s chicken coop so she wouldn’t have to leave the house to open up the coop and let the chickens out.
“It’s amazing to see them going from week one to week ten, where they’re demoing real mobile apps,” said Sanne. “We see the excitement in the kids as we’re teaching the program.”
At the graduation, the students at the Capital One Coders program also demonstrated their apps for parents and loved ones in attendance. Different prizes were awarded, like most creative or most technical.
It’s been a long time coming, but plans are being finalized for the Tysons Biergarten’s move to a new interim location at the McLean Metro station.
Cityline Partners LLC is scheduled to present its plans for the next stage of the Scotts Run development at a Fairfax County Planning Commission meeting on Thursday. The plans include two office towers and one residential building.
Before those buildings are developed, however, Cityline is asking that the site be used as a beer garden and an open lawn.
“One of the uses that the applicant is considering is a biergarten, which would be relocated from its current location at Tysons Central (adjacent to the Greensboro Metro Station) to the proposed [area],” wrote Cityline in the application. “Tents and shipping containers converted into food vendor establishments will serve the potential biergarten use.”
Tysons Biergarten is currently located near the Greensboro Metro station with a month-to-month lease. The location has always been a temporary fill for the planned Tysons Central development at the site — part of the broader Boro complex — but has become a local nightlife destination.
In addition to the Biergarten, a small plaza with a kiosk is proposed outside of the biergarten entrance manned by a person to help oversee parking. The application specifies that the structures and interim uses are not permanent.
In 2013, the Board of Supervisors approved Cityline’s plans for a mixed-use redevelopment with hotel, office, retail and residential uses across 5 million square feet. How long the Tysons Biergarten would be located in this space before development begins is currently unknown.
After review by the Planning Commission, Cityline’s proposal will move forward for approval by the Board of Supervisors.
Top photo via Facebook. Development map via Cityline Partners LLC
Tysons East has been in the spotlight a lot lately.
Apple is eyeing Scotts Run, a development in Tysons East, as a potential new office location. Greater Greater Washington just profiled the neighborhood, calling it a “glitzy, suburban” area that may someday be a haven for “creative class” professionals.
Like we did with Tysons Corner Center mall and Maple Avenue in Vienna, we’re using Fairfax County’s aerial photography maps to explore the history of the still-expanding Tysons East.
The earliest photography in 1937 shows the area as plots of farmland. The first development at the site was Pimmit Hills, built in the 1950s as a home for veterans of World War II and the Korean War. The photography from 1953 shows the neighborhood still in development, and by 1960 it had taken the general shape it still exists in today.
From there, the story of Tysons East’s development moves north. In the 16 years between 1960 and the photography from 1976, the area north of the Pimmit Hills exploded with new development. The construction of the Capital Beltway in 1964 and the construction of the Tysons Corner Center mall in 1969 helped spur new development in the area.
The aerial photography from 1990 shows continued growth in the area. In 1985, the Dulles Toll Road was extended from the Beltway to I-66, completely surrounding Pimmit Hills and the Tysons East development with major highways.
The largest change between 1990 and 2017 is the redevelopment of the smaller office buildings into major corporate campuses. Photography from 2017 shows areas of the Capital One complex, like the Capital One Tower, still under construction. Professor Stephen Fuller, Professor of Public Policy at George Mason University, said the complex is likely to be an anchor for new development in Tysons East.
Photo (7) via Google Earth
