The developers behind The Boro — a sprawling project scheduled for staggered openings throughout the year — have filed paperwork for a plan to work with the company WhyHotel to turn unleased rental units into temporary hotel rooms.
“Given the large number of units in the building, the applicant anticipates that the initial lease-up period for the Rise will be at least 18-24 months,” Elizabeth Baker, senior land use planner for the developers, said in a report on the project. “During this period not to exceed 24 months, the Applicant proposes to temporarily utilize up to 150 market rate units throughout the building for short-term residential or hotel stays.”
The report notes that the stays would be coordinated and managed by WhyHotel, and the guests would have access to the residential parking garage in the building and amenities like the fitness lounge, club room, yoga studio and rooftop swimming pool.
As a bonus, the report says the short term residents would be more likely to use transit or alternate modes of transportation, resulting in a temporarily reduced demand on parking and single occupancy vehicles trips around the site.
There are no architectural design changes resulting from the proposal and at the end of the 24-month period, the temporary use would be terminated.
“The request represents a modest and relatively short term change in use for the property that will be positive for the Boro project and the county,” Baker said in the report.
A staff report and Planning Commission hearing are both scheduled for May.
California-based Morphe Cosmetics is coming to Tysons Corner Center as part of a large-scale expansion.
The chain — known for its make-up palettes and brushes — is planned to open sometime in the spring. More specific dates have not been announced yet.
The store will be located on the mall’s second floor, between Lush — another cosmetics store — and women’s apparel store Francesca’s.
There are four open positions at the new location:
Cvent is expanding in Tysons, adding 72,000 square feet of office space to their headquarters and opening up 67 new jobs at a company that offers some unusual perks.
Cvent creates software for businesses to organize meetings and events. The company will occupy three additional floors of Boro Station at 1765 Greensboro Station Place.
Erica Stoltenberg, a Cvent spokeswoman, said the company includes a few travel opportunities for high-performing employees. Notably, an exchange program offers an employee at the Tysons office and one at the company’s office in India a chance to “switch positions” for a few weeks.
Top-performing sales reps are also given a free, all-inclusive trip to Mexico each year.
This seems to fit with reviews on Glassdoor.com that call the office highly competitive, with a good group of driven coworkers, and one that offers jobs to young people fresh out of college. For those applying to the company, Stoltenberg said the company is looking for employees with an “entrepreneurial mindset” who are “natural go-getters who embody that start-up mentality.”
Stoltenberg also bragged about the company’s all-out Halloween party, which includes divisions competing for best costumes and best overall decorations.
Other perks at the company range from the standard “free office coffee” to onsite massages and other wellness activities.
The company recently expanded into the fifth floor of their headquarters at 1765 Greensboro Station, just south of The Boro development. Stoltenberg said part of that move included discussions with employees to figure out what enhancements or additions were most needed.
“As we expand, it’s important the new floors are constructed in a way that means we have the best environment for our growing team,” said Stoltenberg.
As part of a countywide “Maker Day” celebration, honoring inventors and encouraging teens to pursue technology goals, the Tysons-Pimmit Library will host a pair of free lessons for teens on 3-D printing and building a gaming-focused PC on March 9.
The 3-D printing class will be held from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. and will help run teens through the basics of TinkerCAD, a free utility that allows users to craft 3-D objects. Guests are encouraged to bring a charged laptop if possible, though some laptops will be available at the library.
The class is followed by one from 2-4 p.m. that will walk teens through the basics of building a gaming PC. The class covers every part of the process, including the fundamentals of which parts to get and what to consider when buying parts.
Photo via Facebook
One week after Republik Coffee (7915 Jones Branch Drive) was scheduled for eviction, the local coffee shop is still serving coffee.
A manager at the location confirmed that the location plans to remain open but could add no details about how the coffee bar evaded the eviction.
Owner Talha Sarac had previously told Tysons Reporter that the eviction notice was part of a misunderstanding with Kettler, which owns the Highgate at the Mile building, and that he would meet with Kettler representatives to sort things out.
Kettler declined to comment, but whatever Sarac and Kettler discussed, it was enough to keep the location open for the time being.
Fairfax County police have issued an arrest warrant for Gervonta Davis, World Boxing Association champion in the 130-pound category, after police say Davis assaulted a man near a Tysons Galleria ATM on Feb. 17.
Police said an unidentified victim reported Davis as his attacker. Davis allegedly became belligerent. After the victim testified to the magistrate, a warrant was issued for Davis’ arrest.
Davis faces a misdemeanor assault and battery charge but the Washington Post reported that Davis has not responded to the warrant.
This is not the first or even second time Davis has been arrested following a physical altercation.
After the initial story broke, Davis tweeted vague disapproval of the news coverage.
Lies lies lies
— Gervonta Davis (@Gervontaa) March 5, 2019
As the national women’s clothing chain files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the Charlotte Russe in Tysons Corner Center is closing up shop with some heavy sales.
Nearly half the store is now empty, but there are discounts of anywhere from 30-50 percent on items remaining in the store. Store merchandise ranges from jumpsuits and dresses to smaller items, like makeup kits.
Store fixtures, furniture and mannequins are also on sale — in case you’re a local business looking for cheap equipment or just a normal person who collects mannequins.
Staff at the store said they were not told specifically when the store would be closing, but that it would be gone by the end of the month.
The Charlotte Russe stores in Dulles and Springfield are also scheduled to close.
With Tesla’s announcement that it will be closing most of its retail locations, two Tysons locations remain in jeopardy.
One store is located on Tyco Road near Leesburg Pike. This location was the first Tesla dealership in Virginia, opening in 2015 in a former warehouse.
Tesla also has a showroom inside the Tysons Corner Center mall. The store in the mall includes interactive features to help customers configure their own Tesla in the design studios.
Brick-and-mortar locations are expected to be closed over the next few months, but a list of stores to be closed has not been released. Staff at the Tysons Corner Center showroom said they could not comment on whether or not that location will close.
Tweaks to The View project proposed in Tysons include plans for a new performing arts center, according to the Washington Business Journal.
The development, which would include the region’s tallest building, is part of a sweeping series of new developments planned to transform Tysons east of the Spring Hill Metro station.
According to the Business Journal, the new proposal includes ground-floor retail beneath a 199-seat black box theater. Above the theater would be an outdoor amphitheater, and three floors of office space above that.
A previously proposed 500-seat theater is not part of the project.
Image via Gensler
Traffic is not inevitable, and new development does not have to bring new cars.
Arlington County saw an astounding decline of 20 percent in average weekday traffic in just 15 years from 2000 to 2015. That same period saw a growth of nearly 20 percent in population. Certainly, many of Arlington’s new residents drove cars — but not all, and some of its long-time residents must have found new ways to get around.
There are several ways to fight congestion. Most people’s first thought is simply to widen the road. More road, more space for cars, less traffic — right? The problem is that it won’t work for long.
For economists, mobility can be a commodity like any other. And when the government gives something away for free — in this case, it’s giving away the use of asphalt — of course people will clog the system. When something is available for free people will wait in line, paying with time instead of money. So, if highway engineers widen the roadway, it’s only a matter of years until more cars come along and the traffic is as bad as it ever was.
Another idea might be to slow down new development — but it would be difficult to persuade Fairfax County to forgo all the additional tax revenue.
Third, the county could turn to public transit. The Metro arrived in Tysons in 2014 and, while ridership is increasing, it still lingers below expectations. It was certainly a step in the right direction, but Metrorail was a major investment, and it will take decades of development and improvements to local bus service and sidewalks before it sees full results.
Wider roads, slowing development, and railways are 20th-century solutions. The 21st century brings a more subtle, smarter approach — an approach that professionals call “transportation demand management.”
Transportation demand management is not a single technique, but a set of approaches that nudge people out of their cars and towards buses, bikes, walking and working remotely. It’s practiced cooperatively by Fairfax County, the Tysons Partnership and private developers. It often relies heavily on data-driven, highly connected approaches rather than on large infrastructure investments.
One example of a transportation demand management program is the “Guaranteed Ride Home” offered by Fairfax County. This program offers commuters a free trip home up to four times every year. It’s intended for those who would consider a new kind of commute, but who the fear of unplanned overtime or family emergency keeps tethered to their cars.
What Developers Are Doing
For a clearer understanding of what individual developers are doing to cut congestion, Tysons Reporter spoke with Caroline Flax of The Meridian Group, the master developer of The Boro.
Flax described the “pedestrian experience” at The Boro, and the options that will be available to people on foot. By locating residences close to offices, retail, restaurants and Metro stations, Meridian hopes to “create a bite-sized pedestrian experience.”
“We will have a pedestrian-only promenade that connects to Boro Park, and for the other streets we have created wide sidewalks with activated outdoor seating that will create a really inviting pedestrian experience,” she said.
According to the EPA, concerned with carbon emissions from cars, “Research consistently shows that neighborhoods that mix land uses, make walking safe and convenient, and are near other development allow residents and workers to drive significantly less.”
“[Transportation demand management] is about promoting the other transit options available to residents, visitors, and tenants — aside from driving,” she said. Those options include bicycles, buses, and trains.
Caroline emphasized “making [The Boro] accessible in general” — including shared office/commercial parking to efficiently accommodate drivers, wide sidewalks for pedestrians, designated bike parking, Capital Bikeshare, and creating options for easy pick up and drop off by ride-hailing companies like Uber and Lyft. Flax said that she hopes visitors and tenants at The Boro embrace all modes of travel.
Meridian will strengthen its five-minute walking connection to the Metro by supplying new residents with complementary SmarTrip cards, helping them see how easily they can “hop on the Metro and get downtown, or elsewhere in Tysons, really quickly.”
Flax also emphasized the new streets that will help make traffic smoother by creating more options and connections from the main thoroughfares in Tysons: Route 7, Westpark Drive and Greensboro Drive.
Silver Hill Road, connecting from Greensboro Drive to Route 7, is expected to alleviate traffic on Westpark Drive. Another connection, called Broad Street, currently links drivers and pedestrians from Solutions Drive to another new street that connects to Route 7. Once the second phase of the project begins, Broad Street will connect Westpark Drive to Spring Hill Road.
Smaller blocks make a neighborhood more walkable.
Transportation demand management is a field still in its infancy, as planners and developers find new ways to work toward a more balanced transportation network. People across the country are searching for new tools, and Tysons, frequently dubbed “America’s Next Great City,” will have to work hard to be on the cutting edge.
With the Boro opening soon, Flax concluded by saying, “We’re really excited for everything to come alive… and to show everyone the pedestrian experience we will bring.”
